BUTLER TWP — A township couple is jailed on charges they allegedly conspired to steal thousands of dollars worth of merchandise at a home improvement store.

Butler Township police said Jason S. Beckwith, 36, and his girlfriend, Amanda Jo Sortore, 30, during an eight-month period got away with the same exchange scam at the Lowe’s store in the Moraine Pointe Plaza.

Police nabbed the pair Monday night at the Almost Home Motel in Butler Township, where officers had been called for a disturbance.

Authorities had been looking for the suspects since July 31, when arrest warrants were issued for both on a list of felony and misdemeanor charges.

The defendants on 10 occasions between Nov. 1 and July 12, according to court documents, took merchandise off the shelves at the same Lowe’s store and then went to a customer service counter, claiming they were returning the items.

In each case, according to Detective Dave Fish, the suspects immediately took the unpurchased items to the return desk without receipts.

Most of the time, Beckwith and Sortore used their own driver’s licenses as identification in making the bogus returns, which netted them $2,042.57 worth of gift cards, documents said.

But in three cases, police said, Sortore used the another woman’s identification that was allegedly stolen from the victim’s purse in June at a fast-food restaurant in Butler Township.

Fish said store surveillance video helped to uncover the alleged thefts and identify the suspects.

District Judge Dave Kovach arraigned both suspects on a felony charge of conspiracy to commit identity theft.

Sortore also is charged with felony counts of identity theft and receiving stolen property, and misdemeanor counts of theft by deception, conspiracy to commit theft by deception, identity theft and attempted theft by deception.

Additionally, Beckwith is charged with misdemeanor counts of theft by deception, conspiracy to commit theft by deception and receiving stolen property.

The defendants, following arraignment, were placed in the Butler County Prison on $25,000 bail each.