Details unclear after FBI seizes electronics from Tampa journalist Timothy Burke, husband of councilwoman Lynn Hurtak (original) (raw)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that on May 7, agents “conducted a court-authorized search” at the Old Seminole Heights home of Timothy Burke.

Burke—who is married to and lives with Tampa City Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak—is a Tampa-based journalist and media consultant whose byline has previously appeared at CL.

The FBI added that, “No further information is available at this time.” The agency also declined to share the search warrant.

Hurtak declined comment, but this morning City of Tampa Spokesperson Adam Smith, told CL that the city is not involved. Smith said he’s also “Not aware of any outreach from lawyers for councilwoman or her husband.”

Burke—who first gained notoriety for his work at Deadspin and was recently featured on Netflix—told reporter Justin Garcia that the search warrant had his name on it and that he wasn’t sure why the FBI came to his home.

Agents, Burke added, spent the day taking his phones and computers.

It's still unclear exactly why federal agents seized Burke's electronics. But over the years Burke has built a reputation as an online sleuth. In 2013, the New York Times profiled Burke, highlighting his elaborate monitor setup, which is now located in a shed in his backyard.

From the Times:

He works from home here, in what his colleagues call the “Burke-puter,” for its seamless integration of man and machine. It is less an office than an organism: a flashing, beeping, glowing, thrumming assault of screens, wires, remotes, tuners, phones, receivers, computers and general electronic effluvia wrapped around a person (“the monitor situation up there is insane,” said Burke’s wife, Lynn Hurtak.). Burke sits here alone in the dark day after day, for about 100 hours a week, watching dozens of sports events simultaneously.

In the Netflix special "Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist," the story follows Burke and his Deadspin colleagues as they break the news that Heisman winner Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend was a hoax.

In the two-part series, producers paint Burke as an online savant, with a long resume.

“Before I started working for Deadspin, I traveled in some interesting online circles, including with Anonymous, the notorious online hacker group,” said Burke in the series. “And, I developed a reputation as someone who finds things.”

From his heavily-followed Twitter feed, @bubbaprog, Burke broke some massive stories over the years, including the Sinclair Broadcasting video of local TV anchors around the country reading "Trump propaganda" from the same script.

Hurtak recently defeated former Florida Representative and Senator Janet Cruz in a hotly contested race for the District 3 seat on Tampa City Council.