A fired car dealership employee threatened to pass on sensitive customer data

State police are investigating an alleged incident in which a fired employee at an Indiana County auto dealer allegedly threatened to release confidential customer information if the dealer didn’t pay him 13 months of salary. The alleged incident occurred last Wednesday afternoon. The former, state police said An employee, described as a 40-year-old man from Brownsville, arrived at Tristar Auto Dealership in Burrell Township for a scheduled meeting with dealership officials. Police said that during the meeting, the man attempted to extort 13 months’ worth of paychecks from the car dealership, valued at more than $58,000, allegedly by saying that he would otherwise receive a flash drive containing approximately 1,000 repair orders would distribute emails that contained confidential customer information. Police said the suspect stated he removed the USB drive and related information from the Tristar dealership in Connellsville. The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed as of Monday morning.