BUTLER TWP — A Butler man is accused of using a company credit card over a year-and-a-half to buy gas for his own car, township police said.

Timothy V. Tulley, 53, allegedly committed the theft, according to court documents, because he was mad his employer, an Armstrong County taxi service, had cut back his hours, which in turn had cut back on his income.

Tulley on Monday turned himself in to police and he was arraigned on a charge of felony access device fraud. A preliminary hearing is set Oct. 15 before District Judge Kevin O'Donnell.

An official for Air-Ride of Kittanning notified police on Aug. 25 after the business suspected Tully of using a company-issued credit to get gas for his personal vehicle at a Butler Township convenience store, documents said.

A review of business records showed the card was improperly used 44 times between Jan. 29, 2008, and Aug. 5 of this year, to buy $760 in gasoline.

Police on Aug. 26 interviewed Tulley, who agreed to answer questions without an attorney. He acknowledged that he used the Air-Ride card to buy gas for his car without the company's authority, documents said.

Asked why he did so, the defendant claimed he was upset over the company's decision to cut the number of hours he worked. Fewer hours, he said, meant less pay.

"He was not making enough money to live on," a police affidavit said, "and (he asserted) it became a question of whether he would eat or put gasoline into his vehicle and work the few hours he was getting. It could not be both."

Police said he confessed that he had been using the credit card since January 2008.

The Butler Eagle could not reach Tulley for comment.