Ex-Westmoreland County employee charged with theft after unauthorized pay increases

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A former Westmoreland County employee was charged with theft after detectives said he ordered $10,000 worth of unauthorized pay increases for himself and other workers. 

Former Westmoreland County Purchasing Department Director Kristopher Cardiff is accused of telling another employee to manually alter payroll hours, even though he didn't have the authorization to do so, the Westmoreland County district attorney announced on Thursday. 

Cardiff and his assistant director were suspended in August over an extra half hour of pay every day for a year that was allegedly never approved. Detectives were called after the county's fiscal department noticed the discrepancies while preparing the 2025 budget, the district attorney's office said. 

Records showed the Purchasing Department was manually inputting a 7-hour workday when the standard paid workday is 6.5 hours with an unpaid hour-long lunch break. Investigators said they learned Cardiff submitted a proposal in July of 2023 to shorten the lunch break and increase the work day to 7 hours, but it was never approved by the salary board. 

According to authorities, the employee who manually entered the hours for the department said Cardiff told her to as part of a two-week work study period. When it ended, the employee said Cardiff had received approval to increase the work hours and told her to keep doing it.

Investigators said they found emails between Cardiff and human resources where he indicated that he understood his request for a pay increase was not approved by the salary board. 

In total, the DA's office said the pay increase amounted to over $9,800. Cardiff took nearly $5,400 and a second employee got $3,600, with four others getting "substantially less," investigators said. 

Cardiff is charged with theft and misapplication of entrusted property and property of government.