OAK ISLAND — The top two ranking police officers in Oak Island have quit in a series of resignations that appear to be connected to a case — being handled by the department — involving the mayor of Oak Island’s son.
Oak Island’s assistant police chief resigned Friday, exactly one week after the department’s Chief of Police resigned which happened two days after Mayor Cin Brochure’s son was arrested on child pornography charges.
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The apparent upheaval of the department’s leadership has been met with silence, from town staff members, elected officials, and the Oak Island Police Department.
The case
Justin Brochure, a Leland resident, was arrested in June on 31 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Warrants pertaining to Brochure’s initial arrest show he had been duplicating sexually exploitative visual material of minors since 2015.
Though Brochure was first arrested by the Leland Police Department with warrants served by Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office, his case is being handled by Oak Island, where his mother serves as mayor.
Two weeks ago, Brochure was arrested again, this time by the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office. According to a warrant for his second arrest, Brochure had been in contact with a minor, a violation of his pretrial release agreement.
The first time Brochure was incarcerated, his bond was lowered from $1 million to $100,000. Sometime after his Oct. 9 arrest, his secured bond was lowered from $2 million to $50,000.
Brochure posted bail within days of his second arrest and is no longer in custody.
Top two chiefs out
The Oak Island Police Department has not responded to repeated inquiries as to why their department has the jurisdiction to handle Brochure’s case. The department’s oversight of the case suggests Brochure’s crimes were committed in Oak Island — information the department cannot or will not confirm.
Two days after Brochure’s second arrest, Oak Island’s Chief of Police Greg Jordan resigned. Jordan had served the department for 11 years and as police chief since Feb. 2016.
Wilburn Ingram, the town’s former police chief who served from 2002 to 2004, is currently serving as interim chief.
On Friday, one week after Jordan’s resignation, Assistant Chief Tony Burke resigned. Any mention of Burke has since been scrubbed from the town’s website.
Asked to confirm Burke’s dates of employment, Sara Crissman, a records specialist at the police department, referred to the town’s public information officer, Kyle Thomas.
“We are not allowed to disclose that sort of information,” Crissman said. “Mr. Thomas speaks to anything that’s political.”
Thomas was not immediately available for comment at the time of publication. Previous and recent inquiries to Mayor Brochure, Town Manager David Kelly, Chief of Police Ingram, Captain Franks and others in the town and police department have gone unanswered.
“Assistant chief Burke no longer works for the town,” he said. After asking for his name, he said, “Ma’am, no comment,” and hung up.
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