The former South Greensburg fire chief was arraigned Thursday morning on a felony theft count involving $290,500 missing from St. Clair Cemetery Association in Hempfield.
State police said Matthew Thomas White, 49, of Hempfield, overpaid himself for salary and commission and wrote himself checks that were deleted from the accounting system, according to court papers. As superintendent of the cemetery, White was in charge of payroll, groundskeeping, meeting with potential clients and overseeing a handful of employees, police said.
The new police accusation is in addition to $170,000 investigators said White took from the South Greensburg Fire Department.
White was charged with theft Feb. 9 by state police in connection with the missing fire funds. He was extradited to Pennsylvania from South Carolina March 6 and remains at the Westmoreland County Prison without bail, though his attorney is seeking his release from jail. The matter will be addressed at a hearing April 20.
A review of fire department records showed transfers totaling $170,000 into White’s bank account since 2023, according to court papers. Troopers accuse him of using fire department funds to buy donations through an online checkout system and then transferring the money to himself.
An audit of the cemetery association earlier this year showed checks totaling $138,000 written to White, an overpayment of his salary by $54,000 and $98,000 more in commission than he was entitled, according to court papers filed this week. The overpayments started in 2022, police said.
White had been living on the cemetery grounds for free for about 10 years.
The cemetery association referred questions to an attorney who didn’t return a message from TribLive. White’s attorney didn’t comment on the new complaint.
A preliminary hearing is set for April 21 on the new accusations. A defense request for a forensic evaluation for White was approved last month in the fire funds theft case. In a court filing, his attorney indicated White may have a gambling-related addiction.
The St. Clair Cemetery Association appears to have had its federal tax exempt status revoked in 2017 after failing to file an annual return for nonprofits with the Internal Revenue Service. The association had unpaid tax withholding to the IRS totaling $251,500, according to the complaint against White.
The last publicly-available report was filed in 2016. It indicated revenues that year totaled $645,200 and expenses were $404,200.
The previous year saw a loss of $42,500 as revenue totaled $386,600 in 2015 and expenses were $429,100, according to the filing. Total assets hovered around $3 million both years.