On Monday, FBI agents executed a search warrant on the home of Tampa City Council member Lynn Hurtak and husband Timothy Burke seizing computers, video equipment and other devices.
Hurtak, who was recently re-elected to serve on the Tampa City Council, broke her silence regarding the raid of her home. Speaking with Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, she said, “Based on the information we have, it appears that the search warrant executed at our home on Monday was solely related to my husband’s work as a journalist.”
Burke, a mainstay of the online sports world and a former video editor at Deadspin, has long been known for his array of video equipment and ability to post video clips on social media quickly. Burke, who is currently the president of Burke Communications, which provides media training, social media consulting, and political strategy, has not posted on social media since Sunday, May 7. The website for the company has been down since Monday and is still currently down.
The news of the FBI raiding their home was first reported by the Tampa Bay Times.
Federal agents did not disclose what they were searching the home of Hurtak and Burke for, or even what department they represented. However, an FBI spokesperson later confirmed to the Times that a court-authorized search was being conducted at the home.
Burke told the Times that agents arrived at his home with a search warrant with his name on it. Agents spent the day taking personal devices as well as devices that he uses for his business.
Burke spoke with the Times, saying that the agents arrived with a search warrant with his name on it and spent the day taking personal devices as well as devices that he uses for his business. While Burke told the Times he wasn’t certain why the agents came to his house, we now know according to his wife, that the search warrant was solely related to Burke’s work as a journalist.
At this time, details are still unclear and the warrant has not been made public. More details will soon follow, but it’s still not publically available why the FBI raided the Tampa home, other than Burke’s work as a journalist.
[Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay Times] Image via E.W. Scripps School of Journalism
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.