Luke Sturdevant

PENN TWP — A Warren County man already accused of stealing two rental cars in Butler is facing more charges.

Penn Township police this week filed two additional criminal cases against Luke M. Sturdevant, 31, of Warren.

In one of those cases, police said, Sturdevant allegedly paid a Penn Township car dealership for a $2,153 repair bill with a check Dec. 12 that was written on an account that had less than $10 in it. The repairs were for a 2011 Subaru.

Police charged him Monday with felony counts of theft by deception and receiving stolen property.

Penn Township police, in the other case, also filed Monday, charged Sturdevant with possession of drug paraphernalia stemming from a traffic stop March 10 on Route 8.

An officer stopped the defendant’s Subaru after checking the license plate and finding he was wanted on arrest warrants in Butler and Butler Township.

A search of the car, according to court documents, turned up an uncapped syringe and empty stamp bags of suspected heroin inside the driver’s door.

Following the traffic stop, Sturdevant was placed in the Butler County Prison on the warrants.

Butler police on Jan. 17 obtained their warrant for the defendant after he failed to return a 2015 Ford Fiesta that he rented Nov. 15 rented from Hertz Rent A Car on North Monroe Street.

City police in an unrelated case last week charged Sturdevant with failing to return a 2010 Ford Focus that he rented Feb. 8 from Leeway Rent-A-Car on Pillow Street.

He is charged in each case with a felony count of theft of leased property. On Monday, he waived his preliminary hearings in both cases.

The Butler Township police warrant, obtained last week, was in connection with a shoplifting incident Feb. 8. He is awaiting his preliminary hearing on a misdemeanor retail theft charge in that case.

His preliminary hearings in the Penn Township cases are set for March 29.

Sturdevant remains in the county prison on $7,500 bail.