Maryland police captain accused of assaulting female officers

The Office of the State Prosecutor announced an 11-count indictment against a former Cumberland Police Department captain who is accused of physically assaulting younger, female officers by regularly applying “pain compliance pressure points,” grips typically used to subdue suspects.

An Allegany County grand jury indicted Cumberland Police Capt. James Burt on six counts of misconduct in office, four counts of second-degree assault and one count of fourth-degree sex offense, Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard III said Friday. The charges stem from incidents involving four victims beginning at least in 2024, according to the indictment.

Burt, a 22-year veteran of the city police force was promoted in 2021 to captain, the No. 2 position in the department. WCBC radio reported in May 2025 that Burt had been placed on leave then, as the investigation began.

As captain, Burt was the direct supervisor of all sworn officers in the department and was responsible for hiring, facts he frequently cited when dealing with female officers or recruits, whom he referred to as his “daughters” or “babies,” according to the indictment.

He was also the beneficiary of numerous courses in leadership and management, police procedure, proper use of force and was responsible for ensuring that Cumberland officers were “up to date on all training topics, including ethics, fraternization, defense tactics, and sexual harassment, among others.

Despite that, the charging documents say, beginning around 2024, Burt “regularly physically assaulted younger female … officers in the presence of other subordinate female officers, by applying various pain compliance pressure points to them” while they were on duty and in the police department.

The indictment describes Burt as a 6 foot, 4 inches tall and weighing about 250 pounds. It said he repeatedly approached his victims at random times and applied painful pressure points, typically behind their ears or on their hands.

On encountering one victim in a stairwell — who put up arm, fearing Burt was about to assault her — Burt reportedly said he just wanted to give her a hug,”as he leaned in and hugged Victim 1 and slowly kissed her neck while breathing in, in a sensual manner,” the indictment said.

Burt was also charged for squeezing the bicep of one woman, a correctional officer at the Federal Correctional Institution, Cumberland, who was a friend of one of the other victims, and suggesting she should work for Cumberland Police “because of her physical appearance.” That netted a misconduct in office charge.

In a statement announcing the indictment, Howard said police supervisors “are vested with significant powers to discharge their important duties and lead their departments. Our office will continue to investigate and where appropriate prosecute any allegations that a police officer abused those powers by victimizing subordinate members of the very department they were entrusted to lead.”

He thanked Maryland State Police for their help in the investigation and Cumberland Police for their cooperation.