Former Cumberland Police Captain James Burt has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to misconduct in office. According to court records, Burt admitted to using police-trained pain-compliance pressure points on a female officer and kissing her neck without her consent while he was her supervisor.
What prosecutors allege
In a charging document outlined by the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor, an Allegany County grand jury returned an 11-count indictment against Burt. He was charged with six counts of misconduct in office, four counts of second-degree assault, and one count of fourth-degree sex offense. Prosecutors say Burt began serving with the Cumberland Police Department around 2003, rose to captain in 2021, and then targeted younger female officers he supervised.
Court filings and local coverage reported that Burt ultimately pleaded guilty and received 30 days behind bars plus three years of supervised probation, according to CBS Baltimore. In his plea, Burt admitted that he approached a female officer who joined the department in 2024 and applied pain to her pressure points without warning through at least April 2025. The judge said someone with Burt's training had shown poor judgment and suggested in court that the behavior likely occurred more than once.
Details from court filings and reporting
Charging documents, along with televised reports, describe a pattern that involved multiple women in the department. An account from WMAR-2 News details separate incidents in which Burt allegedly used pressure-point holds on three officers. In one case, he is accused of grabbing a woman by the hair, pulling the hood of her sweatshirt over her face, and shoving her head into a police vehicle, conduct prosecutors presented to the grand jury.
Legal context
In Maryland, misconduct in office is a common-law offense without a fixed statutory maximum sentence, which gives judges broad leeway in deciding punishment, according to Maryland court decisions. The state's high court has treated misconduct in office as separate from statutory assault charges.
The State Prosecutor's Office has pursued similar misconduct cases in recent years. A former Maryland Department of Health police captain, for example, was sentenced in December with most of the jail time suspended after being convicted of two counts of misconduct in office, according to State Prosecutor's Office records.
Burt resigned from the Cumberland Police Department after he was indicted and will serve the jail sentence and probation laid out in his plea agreement, according to court records and coverage by CBS Baltimore. Local officials and state prosecutors say the office intends to continue pursuing allegations that public officials in the region abused their authority.
