Burbine Home Was Easy Walk To Nearby Playground

Longtime level 1 sex offender and accused serial child sex abuser John Burbine apparently spent years living within easy walking distance of a playground, based on a look at Wakefield on Google Maps. Burbine is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday morning in Woburn Superior Court. 

Burbine was reportedly classified a Level 1 sex offender back in 1989 after conviction on three counts of indecent assault on three young boys, and had two more unprosecuted allegations made against him in 2005 and 2009. His home on Second Street, according to Google Maps, is no more than a quarter mile away from the Nasella Playground by walking down Preston Street onto Rte. 129. At the same time, Nasella Playground and Second Street are only about 300 feet apart at their closest actual point, at least on this map. The Mill River runs between Second Street and the playground before running under Route 129 to the Saugus River.

A few hundred feet further away from Nasella Playground, there is also what appears to be a Little League field on the map.

Many area parents have been alarmed to learn that Burbine apparently worked around children for a number of years and stayed under the radar because his Level 1 sex offender classification was not considered public information. News that he also apparently spent a good portion of his life living several hundred feet from a playground may also be of concern.

The regional media has maintained a substantial presence in town in recent days, stopping at spots such as the Lincoln Street office building where the Burbines’ Waterfall Education business was once located, and also the Second Street home where Mrs. Burbine reportedly remains under house arrest.

A police log entry from neighboring Lynnfield even notes that police were called on a TV news crew in the parking lot of the Boston Sports Club in that town, apparently checking on reports, which this website has also received from numerous readers, that both Burbine and his wife once worked at the health club.

Earlier this week, Wakefield Police Chief Richard Smith told the Boston Herald that there was “quite a bit of a curiosity factor” on Second Street as locals and media stopped at the Burbine house and that there had been extra patrols. Smith also told the newspaper that his department is not aware of any “bona fide” threats to be made against the Burbine’s or their home.

On Tuesday morning, Wakefield Patch checked in with Lieutenant Craig Calabrese, who confirmed there has been something of a traffic nuisance from TV news trucks, but nothing more serious for the department to handle such as threats.

For all Wakefield Patch coverage of this issue, please visit our Wakefield Man Accused of Child Sex Crimes topic page