SAXONBURG — A man accused of attempting to extort $35,000 from his Saxonburg employer by threatening to allege workplace safety violations has waived his case to county court.

Ramon P. Livingston, 43, of New Kensington, appeared before District Judge Sue Haggarty on Wednesday morning and agreed to waive two felony counts of attempted extortion.

He is scheduled to appear May 31 at Common Pleas Court in Butler.

On Feb. 7, an attorney representing DuCo Ceramics turned over to police an email sent that morning by Livingston to a union representative, according to charging documents.

Police said Livingston wrote in the email that he found multiple violations of safety standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Electrical Code. The email mentions $35,000 and suggests that amount would prevent him from reporting the alleged violations to safety officials, police said.

“This might sound crazy, but think about everyone’s job there before you answer,” Livingston allegedly said. “Move quick. I’m itching to call these people. Shut me up!”

He did not ask for the “violations” to be corrected or for anything to benefit the workplace or his coworkers, police said.

Officers say they spoke with Livingston on Feb. 10.

“Livingston stated ‘I was just being an (expletive)’ and ‘it wasn’t nothing,’” police said in the affidavit.