Arnold Burke

Arnold Lee Burke (c. 1935) is an American engineer who invented what he called the Jeremiah 33:3, a perpetual motion machine that he claimed operated by recirculating water through a turbine without requiring any external energy source. During fraud trials against Burke, evidence was presented that there was an electric pump concealed in his machine; Burke would later claim that he placed the pump there in order to conceal the secret of his machine's operations from the state.

In the late 1970s, Burke reportedly took in $800,000 USD from investors to develop and manufacture the Jeremiah, activities that saw him brought up on felony charges by the Texas attorney general in 1979 in a case which would eventually take over three years to resolve. During initial court proceedings, the Jeremiah machine was exposed by court-appointed experts as using an electric pump; subsequently, Burke had his assets, as well as those of companies that were involved, placed into temporary receivership. In June 1980, a fraud case resulted in a mistrial when the jury failed to reach a verdict on the charges, and Burke's assets were restored. A retrial in September 1980 saw Burke accept a plea bargain with the prosecutors, agreeing to plead no contest to a misdemeanor charge of deceptive trade practice, but this was rejected by the district judge, and, in consequence, the prosecution did not present evidence, and Burke was found not guilty again. The next year, in February 1981, Burke was charged with aggravated perjury and again brought to court, and once more found not guilty. Burke was then to be tried once more, this time on felony theft charges, but ultimately bargained his way down to a misdemeanor deceptive trade charge, receiving a one year probation and fines amounting to several thousand dollars in May 1983. In 1987, the United States Tax Court found he had unreported income in 1979 connected to Jeremiah 3:33, which seems to have been the final action taken against him in relation to the machine, and its last appearance in any public record.

Press Coverage

• Smith, Rick (21 Dec. 1979), "Perpetual motion ends with inventor's arrest", American-Statesman (Austin, TX): A1, A11, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/358428148/ 
• AP (24 Dec. 1979), "'Miracle' machine a clever hoax", Desert Sun (Palm Springs, CA): A5, https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19791224.2.44 
• AP (27 May 1980), "Controversial inventor goes on trial for theft", San Angelo Standard-Times (San Angelo, TX): 12, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/789115199/ 
• Cottier, Montgomery (30 May 1980), "'Jeremiah' investors agree to settlement", Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX): 18, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/634964821/ 
• "Jury fails to reach verdict in inventor's case", Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX): B13, 8 June 1980, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/378948378/ 
• Phillips, Jim (2 Feb. 1981), "Inventor retried for perjury: Sides line up in perpetual fraud case of Jeremiah 3:33", Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX): 12, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/379205625 
• Grear, Mark (8 Feb. 1981), "'Jeremiah' creator found innocent of perjury", Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX): B2, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/379229227 
• Matustik, David (3 May 1983), "'Inventor' agrees to plea bargain", Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX): 1, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/379325764/ 

Legal Documents

• https://www.leagle.com/decision/198740454bdtcm3501349