Former agent with the state AG’s Office accused of stealing $174K
Brenda Sawyer is charged with stealing $121,000 from the state attorney general’s office and $52,650 from the NAACP chapter in McKeesport.
Thursday’s McKeesport Area school board meeting didn’t provide answers about the district administrators and employees that faced disciplinary hearings as a result of an internal investigation that alleged a failure to report child sexual abuse.
However, Solicitor Gary Matta revealed after the meeting that police Chief Brenda Sawyer was placed on a leave of absence after being accused of stealing $121,000 from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
Matta said the board will address the issues that arose from the Loudermill hearings at next week’s meeting. He also said after the meeting that the district was made aware of the charges against Sawyer some time after 4 p.m. Thursday.
As soon as William Pettigrew, the acting superintendent, found out about the allegations, Matta said he immediately contacted Sawyer and placed her on a leave of absence.
“And we’ll be moving through the appropriate actions,” Matta said.
Sawyer was arrested Thursday on charges of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, forgery, obstruction, tampering with evidence and three counts of theft, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.
Sawyer also is accused of stealing $52,650 from the McKeesport NAACP chapter.
Matta said the district was aware there was a search warrant issued for Sawyer’s home in May.
“So we were waiting to see what took place after that,” he said. “As far as we’re aware, this is the first time that there’s been any actions taken against her.”
Sawyer just received a pay raise during the Aug. 22 board meeting, with her yearly salary increasing by $10,000.
Sawyer was hired as the school district’s police chief in October 2023. She officially took over the role in February after she retired as the regional director of the Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and Drug Control at the North Huntingdon office.
TribLive also reported Sawyer told investigators during an interview in May she had lost $26,000 in money she had withdrawn from an attorney general’s account and might have misplaced the evidence envelopes during her retirement, according to court papers.
A preliminary hearing for Sawyer is scheduled for Sept. 13.
A couple McKeesport area residents implied that Sawyer received better treatment from the district and the board than Superintendent Dr. Tia Wanzo did regarding the respective allegations leveled against them.
“I think that’s inaccurate. We’ve addressed every person in an identical manner, and we’ll continue to do that,” Matta said.
One district resident mentioned that Director Diane Elias deleted Facebook comments, which Matta said were deemed derogatory in nature by Wanzo’s attorney Nikki Lykos. Matta said the comments did not address anything regarding Wanzo. Matta asked Elias to delete the comments at the request of Lykos.
“So we took (the comments) down to satisfy (Lykos),” Matta said.
The McKeesport school board reconvenes next Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
