COHASSET, MASS. (WHDH) - The charge Brian Walshe is facing in connection with his wife’s disappearance is not his first run-in with the law, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.
In 2018, he pleaded guilty in a wire fraud case after selling two fake Andy Warhol paintings on eBay and has been on house arrest since 2021 while awaiting sentencing in federal court.
Walshe was accused of selling the paintings in 2016 to buyers who later discovered the works were missing authentications from The Andy Warhol Foundation. The pieces also had new staples and canvas that indicated they were fake to the new owners.
The buyers were unable to get in contact with Walshe for a refund, according to authorities, leading to the proceedings. Officials also learned he had previously tried selling the same pieces in 2011 to an art gallery that turned him down when he was unable to produce a bill of sale.
Due to arrangements made in the 2018 case, Walshe was required to specify when he was going to and from his residence in Cohasset while he awaits sentencing. According to court paperwork, the week of Jan. 1, 2023, Walshe was approved to drop his children off at school between 8-10:30 a.m. and then pick them up from 3:15-6:45 p.m.
However, on Sunday, Jan. 1, he also reportedly asked authorities to be out from 3-9 p.m. specifically to transport his mother, who had just had cataract surgery. He said she was able to drive herself home instead, so he took that time to run errands, including stops at Whole Foods and CVS, which prosecutors claimed never happened.
On Monday, Jan. 2, prosecutors say Walshe claimed to have taken his oldest child for a smoothie during the aforementioned school drop-off time, though there was no school due to it being a holiday. Law officials say that was when he went to the Home Depot in Rockland.
Walshe pleaded not guilty to the misleading police charge he now faces. He is set to appear back in court in early February.
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