Top Stories

Trial begins for former police officer accused of stealing from charity donations

A former police offer is now on trial for allegedly stealing from his brothers in blue.

Channel 11 first broke the news back in February, when the Oil City police department filed a felony theft charge against TJ Burke. The police chief accuses Burke of mishandling $13,000 that was raised during a charity race in June 2017.

RELATED: Officers Down 5K company founder drawing criticism

At that time, Burke owned and operated a company called Officers Down 5K, which managed fundraising events for police departments and fallen officers' families around the country.

TRENDING NOW:

11 Investigates did several stories when we uncovered vendors, across the state and country, who said they were never paid by Burke. Several organizations also told us they only got small amounts of money from these charity races.

RELATED: Officers Down 5K founder to stand trial on theft charges

After our stories, Burke shut down his business and settled at least one civil action against him. In May, a judge ordered Burke to pay almost $6,000 to a vendor.

His criminal trial on the felony theft charge started Thursday morning and is expected to last two days.