NORTH HUNTINGDON, Pa. — After a more than five-hour hearing, Judge Henry Lee Moore, the magistrate judge in North Huntingdon, sent all seven charges against Brenda Sawyer to trial.
She is the former regional director of the attorney general’s office and president of the McKeesport chapter of the NAACP.
>> Former supervisor arrested after more than $100,000 in drug money went missing from AG’s office
Sawyer had no comment as she was escorted out of a day-long hearing by her attorney Phil DiLucente.
She is accused of stealing more than $121,000 from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
>> 11 Investigates Exclusive: More than $100,000 in drug money missing from AG’s office
Detectives with the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office estimate $75,000 of that is still missing. Some was repaid by Sawyer after she retired in February.
She’s also accused of stealing more than $56,000 from the McKeesport NAACP.
Detectives said there is evidence of Sawyer laundering money between two bank accounts with the Attorney General’s Office, and two accounts with the NAACP to fuel a gambling addiction.
Detective Ron Dupilka of the DA’s office testified over the years, Sawyer has gambled millions of dollars at Rivers Casino — and more than $719,000 in 2023 alone.
“To go an extrapolate $100,000 of an alleged theft to millions of dollars in gambling is somewhat challengeable I think,” DiLucente told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek after Thursday’s hearing.
DiLucente tried to get the court to drop a forgery charge against Sawyer. He said there’s no proof she was the one who forged the signature of the NAACP’s treasurer to open and use a PNC Bank account that was set up with Sawyer’s address, which was supposed to be used for a community violence prevention program.
He also tried to get them to drop an obstruction of justice charge. The state said Sawyer denied giving money for drug buys to attorney general agents because there was no money to give because she had taken it.
The judge said he “begrudgingly” held all of the charges for trial, but said he could be wrong on the forgery and obstruction charges.
“He said he begrudgingly held them over. I was disappointed because I don’t really think there’s evidence of that,” DiLucente said. “But, this is the system and how it works, so we’re just going to have to respect the system and go through it.”
Sawyer is set for her formal arraignment on Dec. 23.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
©2024 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
