Woman says John Burbine tutored her son

WAKEFIELD, Mass. (WHDH) -- 7News spoke with a woman whose son was tutored by John Burbine, the man who was arrested for more than 100 counts related to child sexual abuse.

“I was at work in a conference room and they had a television on and I screamed, ‘Oh my God,’” the woman said.

The woman asked 7News not show her face on camera or use her name, but the mother says her son was once tutored by the suspect.

“I’m just thankful that he wasn’t one of the ones who was affected by it, but I’m just sad that there are other families that -- I mean, this is devastating,” the woman said.

The woman says she always had her suspicions about Burbine and never left her son alone with him. She was shocked to learn he was once registered as a level 1 sex offender.

“When we did our due diligence, and Googled and looked at the sex offender list, he did not pop up, he wasn’t on anyone’s radar,” said the woman.

She hopes this case changes that. She says the Department of Children and Family Services contacted her in August alerting her of the serious allegations -- but she never knew it would blossom into all of this.

“You never want to have to talk about something like that with your son. Even tonight we pulled up John’s picture and explained to him what had happened and that he was in jail now,” the woman said.

7News learned Burbine’s father is a retired officer from Wakefield.