A thieving NYPD charity treasurer was sentenced to two years behind bars Tuesday for embezzling funds — but not before being raked over the coals by the widows she cheated.
“She ruined our reputation,” Survivors of the Shield president Kathleen Vigiano said of Lorraine Shanley, who previously admitted to pocketing more than $400,000 in charity funds intended for families whose loved ones died in the line of duty.
Vigiano, a widow who was also an NYPD officer, said she’d never met Shanley yet had spent years now cleaning up after her and trying to restore faith in the organization, all while fighting post-9/11 cancer.
“There’s plenty of help,” Vigiano told a stone-faced Shanley. “All you have to do is ask, you don’t have to steal.”
Fellow SOS member Maria Dziergowski attacked Shanley’s previous claims during her guilty plea that she took the money to help her special needs grandchild. Shanley has also said she felt entitled to the money because her own husband died of a heart attack while on duty.
“Broadway shows and cosmetics from Bergdorf Goodman’s do not help her handicapped grandson,” Dziergowski said, referencing goodies that prosecutors said she spent the money on. “It just is disgusting.”
Shanley also spoke before the gallery packed with NYPD widows and their supporters, though she appeared emotionless as she addressed her 121 fraudulent checks and 642 credit card transactions using the charity’s money.
“My life will never be the same,” the 69-year-old said. “And I can blame no one but myself.”
While Shaley was charged with looting charity coffers from 2010 to 2017, prosecutor Brett Kalikow suggested the possibility the ex-treasurer could have been stealing for longer because the organization put “too much faith” in her.
“The defendant stole money from the surviving widows and children of NYPD officers killed in the line of duty,” Kalikow said. “Her expenses were inexcusable. They were extravagances, indulgences.”
In addition to sentencing Shanley to two years behind bars, Manhattan federal court Judge Sidney Stein ordered that she pay $406,851 to SOS, and $103,983 to the IRS.
Stein didn’t say much while imposing sentence, but suggested she make her time behind bars effective.
“I certainly hope you learn from this,” the judge said.
Shanley was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on Feb. 25.
She declined comment as she left court.