By Sean O’Driscoll 

Pennsylvania police are appealing to the Irish community for help prosecuting a former cop accused of skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars intended for an Irish hospital. 

William Bresnahan, a former police officer and well-known figure in Philadelphia’s Irish community, has been charged with funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars away from charities and into private bank accounts. 

Prosecutors believe that Bresnahan may have targeted many people in the Philadelphia Irish community who believed he was genuinely collecting for a Dublin hospital.

Bresnahan, previously known for writing a book about September 11, is now facing 205 counts of theft and violating Pennsylvania charity laws.

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Charitable Organizations told the Irish Voice that Bresnahan had filed lengthy submissions and had been granted permission to collect money across the state.

The bureau later sued him for providing misleading information, and he was fined $94,000. Bresnahan previously pleaded guilty in a generous plea agreement but later changed his mind. 

At a court hearing last week, Laurie Rudy, the administrator for Bread of Life Outreach, a charity operated by the Newport Assembly of God Church in Newport, Pennsylvania, said she donated large loads of goods to Bresnahan, who claimed they were to be given to the poor in the U.S., Ireland and in developing countries. 

Broker Scott Thawler said that he innocently bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of consumer goods from Bresnahan for resale to dollar stores. Some of the goods had “not for resale” signs, but Bresnahan assured him that he should not be concerned by the labels. 

He said that Bresnahan had broken down and cried after admitting his wrongdoing at a special meeting of people he had mislead. 

Chester County Detective Joseph R. Walton said that he could not comment on the case as charges had been brought, but appealed to any members of the Irish community with additional information to come forward.

One investigator said off the record that prosecutors would be able to show the movement of money from Bresnahan’s supposed charities to his own private bank accounts and those of this family. Other money ended up in accounts held by Bresnahan’s private businesses.

The case is expected to go to trial in the first week in January. Bresnahan is long known for eccentric and questionable behavior. He previously wrote a book called 9-11: Terror in America, in which he claimed he won a National Leadership Award, a claim denied by the White House. 

In 2002 he was charged with theft by deception for giving paid lectures about what he claimed were his heroic acts at the World Trade Center on September 11. Those charges were later dropped.