Jul 6, 2017 3 min read

CARMICHAELS – A former Carmichaels borough manager was arrested Thursday and charged with stealing nearly $75,000 from the borough by forging paychecks to boost her pay over several years, prompting the municipality’s bank account to be frozen last year.

Brandi Lea Wydo-Streit allegedly cut the 89 checks for herself totaling $74,965 between 2012 until 2016 before admitting to the thefts last September, state police said.

Before her last day working as borough manager Sept. 21, she allegedly told the borough’s two part-time police officers, several council members, the borough solicitor and other employees she was “doing something wrong and bad and (she) hope people understood she has a family,” state police wrote in court documents.

State police on Thursday charged Wydo-Streit, 42, of 207 N. Vine St., Carmichaels, with 89 counts each of forgery and theft by unlawful taking. District Judge Lee Watson arraigned her later in the day and she is being held at the Greene County jail on $7,496 bond.

Investigators said borough officials were first alerted to the situation when Carmichaels police Officer Mike Gyurke attempted to cash his paycheck, but the bank had frozen the borough’s account. He later contacted Wydo-Streit, who told him she would handle it. Gyurke could not recall when the check was frozen, but remembered her saying that she was “going to be honest with you, I stole the money.”

Councilman Michael Dohanich contacted state police Oct. 14 and told investigators he was concerned that Wydo-Streit was stealing money. During that time, accounting firm Cypher & Cypher performed a forensic audit, which eventually showed the missing funds.

Wydo-Streit also allegedly told borough solicitor Jeffrey Grimes of what she was doing and he advised she hire an attorney. Grimes told investigators Wydo-Streit’s normal pay was $12 per hour, which equaled about $700 every two-week pay period, but she increased that figure to $900. Grimes also said that she needed an additional signature for every check and that Dohanich, president of the council and administrator in charge, typically signed the borough checks.

Dohanich, who became president in January 2016, said he “trusted” Wydo-Streit and often served as the second signer for borough employee paychecks, doing batches every couple of days. He also told police that he signed many checks that Wydo-Streit did not use, although investigators did not elaborate what that meant.

He said Wydo-Streit often provided bank statements during council meetings that were wrong. Additionally, the council expected there to be about $30,000 of Act 13 drilling impact money in the borough’s coffers, but there was none.

In all, the audit showed Wydo-Streit stole $64,705 from payroll and another $10,260 from the general fund, police said. Wydo-Streit began working for the borough in 2011, and police allege the thefts began in July 2012.

Neither Dohanich nor Grimes could be reached for comment Thursday.

Wydo-Streit’s attorney, David Pollock, did not return a phone call seeking comment on the charges against his client.