Streisand Fan Stole From Cop Charity To Buy Babs Tix, Feds Say

NEW YORK — A Staten Island woman used hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for the families of slain NYPD cops for Barbra Streisand tickets and other personal expenses, federal prosecutors alleged Thursday.

Federal authorities arrested Lorraine Shanley, 68, and accused her of using a charity that she served as treasurer as her personal piggy bank. She used $410,000 of the group's money over several years to pay her grandkid's private school tuition, foot her son's legal bills and buy $1,400 worth of tickets to the Streisand concert, among other things, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors did not name the charity, but tax documents show Shanley has served as treasurer of a group called Survivors of the Shield. The hefty sum she is accused of stealing accounted for more than 20 percent of the charity's donations, according to Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman.

"Lorraine Shanley allegedly capitalized on tragedy and monetized people’s generosity," Berman said in a statement.

The charity involved in the case offers financial help to NYPD cops who are killed in the line of duty. Prosecutors say Shanley was its volunteer treasurer from at least 2010 to 2017, in which time it got about $1.9 million in donations — more than 99 percent of which came from NYPD employees themselves.

Shanley was authorized to use the charity's bank account and credit card for its operations, prosecutors say, but she blew a ton of its money to benefit herself and her family.

For instance, she wrote at least $45,000 in checks that were payable to family members or deposited into Shanley's own accounts, prosecutors said. She also spent about $29,000 on her grandchild's private school tuition, about $32,000 on dental expenses, about $25,000 on landscaping and more than $8,000 on event tickets, including those for Streisand's concert, prosecutors say.

Shanley also used about $63,000 for legal fees and other costs related to criminal charges against her son, prosecutors said. Her son, Thomas Shanley, pleaded guilty to homicide and leaving the scene in 2016 after he was accused of hitting and killing a pedestrian with his SUV two years before, according to news reports.

A new volunteer at the charity got wise to Shanley's scam when she reviewed tax returns and records in an effort to "modernize" its operations, prosecutors said.

Shanley pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court Thursday afternoon as she faced bank fraud and identity theft charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. She faces up to 32 years behind bars if convicted of both crimes.

Shanley was released Thursday but has to pay a $100,000 bond by April 1, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.