The chair of Philadelphia’s Citizens Police Oversight Commission, the civilian panel created to hold city police accountable, was arrested Tuesday and charged with witness intimidation, bribery and conspiracy, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors allege Hassan Bennett, 43, sold confidential police reports identifying a witness in an attempted murder case for $500, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Bennett is being held on $1 million bail, prosecutors said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference, according to the Inquirer. KYW Newsradio first reported the arrest Tuesday morning, citing sources, and NBC10 Philadelphia said paperwork from a law enforcement source showed he was charged with bribery and intimidation.
Hassan Bennett, the chair of the Philadelphia Citizens Police Oversight Commission, was arrested Tuesday and charged with bribery and intimidation, according to paperwork provided by a law enforcement source: https://t.co/evB7kNk2Fc
— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) October 27, 2026
A $500 price on a witness, prosecutors say
According to the Inquirer, prosecutors allege Bennett obtained unredacted police reports that included the full name of a key witness and sold photos of those reports to Thomas Scott, 45. Prosecutors say Scott had threatened the witness in an effort to keep that person from testifying. Scott is charged with witness intimidation and criminal use of a communication facility and is being held on $2 million bail, the Inquirer reported.
Assistant District Attorney Joseph Lanuti said social media accounts linked to Scott carried threats against the witness, including one vowing to “blow down the witness in broad day,” the Inquirer reported. Lanuti said those posts were an attempt to “prevent witness from coming to court.”
Prosecutors said the case began when prison officials alerted the district attorney’s office to suspicious phone calls between an incarcerated man and Scott. Investigators said they recognized Bennett’s voice on a recorded three-way prison call in which he read from the report and shared the witness’s name, according to the Inquirer. Prosecutors credited a months-long investigation by the office’s Gun Violence Task Force.
William Fritze, chief of the task force, said the investigation of Bennett is ongoing. “We will continue to do our due diligence and look into any other incidents Bennett may have been involved in,” Fritze said, according to the Inquirer.
Placed on leave
Besides chairing the oversight commission, Bennett worked as a bail navigator for the Defender Association of Philadelphia, the city’s public defender office, according to KYW and the Inquirer. KYW, citing sources, reported that he is accused of selling confidential information obtained through that job, while the Inquirer reported that prosecutors declined to say Tuesday whether he used his commission or Defender Association role to get it.
The commission’s executive director, Tonya McClary, said in a statement that the group would not comment on the allegations this early in the case, the Inquirer reported. Bennett has been placed on leave from the commission while the case is pending, Axios Philadelphia reported.
Bennett had chaired the commission since 2024, according to the Inquirer. He became a prominent criminal justice advocate after spending nearly 13 years in prison on a 2006 murder conviction that was overturned in 2017; he was acquitted at a 2019 retrial after representing himself, the Inquirer and KYW reported.
The irony is hard to miss: the man chosen to police the police now stands accused, by Philadelphia’s own district attorney’s office, of putting a witness in danger. The charges are allegations, and Bennett is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Sources
- The Philadelphia Inquirer: https://www.inquirer.com/crime/hassan-bennett-charged-bribery-cpoc-police-reform-20261027.html
- Axios Philadelphia: https://www.axios.com/local/philadelphia/2026/10/27/philadelphia-police-watchdog-chair-on-leave-after-arrest
- KYW Newsradio: https://www.audacy.com/kywnewsradio/news/local/hassan-bennett-arrest-police-oversight-public-defenders
- NBC10 Philadelphia on X: https://x.com/NBCPhiladelphia/status/2115133703466758244
Sources cited
Sources
- Original post: NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) on X, Oct 27, 2026
Posts on X are shown as published by their authors; claims in them are attributed, not independently confirmed unless the article says so. If an embedded post does not load, these links open the originals.