Long Island dad saved his 14-year-old daughter from a trafficking ring. Then her treatment at state-run psych ward turned into the bigger nightmare

A Long Island dad, Frank Gervasi, who bravely rescued his 14-year-old daughter from an alleged sex trafficking ring last year, is now suing Suffolk County and New York State for a staggering $10 million. Gervasi, 50, filed the lawsuit, alleging that his daughter, Emmarae, endured further sexual abuse in two separate state facilities between January and March 2025, right after her initial rescue. 

Emmarae had been missing for 25 days in December 2024 before her father mounted a solo vigilante mission, ultimately rescuing her from a 56-foot yacht docked at Whitecap Marina in Islip. Prosecutors later revealed that she had been held captive and repeatedly assaulted by adult men during that harrowing period. 

Following her rescue, NY Post reported that a Suffolk Family Court judge ordered Emmarae to Sagamore Children’s Psychiatric. She spent nearly a month there before being transferred to Brentwood House in early February 2025.

I can’t even imagine what is going through Gervasi’s head: guilt, relief, anger

According to the lawsuit, staff at Sagamore had already warned supervisors about an employee, Deshaun McClean, being “a little too handsy with the minor.” Gervasi claims he was assured by officials that McClean posed no threat. However, less than a week later, the suit alleges McClean sexually assaulted Emmarae. 

After this traumatic experience, Emmarae was transferred to Brentwood House, where a second staffer, Joseph Edward, allegedly assaulted her again, along with other workers. The situation escalated even further when a third employee, Darryl Joyner, was later accused of offering Emmarae drugs in exchange for seeing her nude. The lawsuit charges that “the minor was in a zone of danger, and despite that knowledge, [officials] took no steps to protect the minor.” 

Per the NY Post, a year before her disappearance, Emmarae, like many teens, was active on TikTok and Instagram. However, some of her posts, showing her in suggestive clothing and one appearing to show her driving at 4 AM when she was just 13, raised serious red flags. 

Her family had reported that Emmarae struggled with behavioral problems for years due to childhood trauma and had run away from home multiple times. She had even received treatment at substance abuse facilities in New York and Minnesota.

On December 9, Emmarae left her father’s Patchogue home, reportedly without shoes and wearing only a T-shirt, and entered a dark world that no teenager should ever experience. Over the next few days, she was shifted between multiple abusers. First was 35-year-old Alton Harrell, who cut her ankle monitor and knew she was 13. 

Then there was Kevin McDonald, 20, Daniel Burke, 63, and Robert Eccleston, 61, who held her “where she was unlikely to be found.” Last, Emmarae was allegedly held on the yacht Phoenix with 64-year-old Francis Buckheit. 

While on the boat, prosecutors allege that Elizabeth Hunter, 34, and Jacquelyn Comiskey, 52, took advantage of her. Comiskey allegedly offered Emmarae to Bunice Knight, 47, in exchange for drugs. However, according to Gervasi, Comiskey is the one who ultimately tipped him off to his daughter’s whereabouts, bring an end to his tireless physical search. 

Once the arrests began, an 83-count indictment charging 11 people with kidnapping, child trafficking, and assault for their alleged actions against Emmarae was unsealed in Suffolk County Criminal Court last year. 10 cases remain active.

Lawyers for the defendants in the trafficking case have indicated they will try to prove Emmarae was not held captive as part of their defense. In a continuing barrage of horrible people, Buckheit’s attorney described the girl’s witness statement as a “sad, horrible tale of a girl who is very lost in life,” accusing her of “traveling across Suffolk County smoking crack and being with various people.” 

What he seems to forget is that she is a child. A minor. Emmarae was not old enough to consent to any alleged sexual contact or illegal behavior. Now, she deserves justice so that she can rebuild her life, and I hope the courts go scorched earth on every one of these sick people.

More than that, the lawsuit against Suffolk County and New York State highlights a critical failure in protecting a vulnerable child. Unfortunately, it is always the innocent and the weak who get trapped. Last year, in Australia, the police slammed down on an international sex abuse ring. However, earlier in the year, another horrific ring was found and stopped in Alabama, where pets were also victims.