NEW CASTLE — A Kittanning man was cleared of criminal wrongdoing at a preliminary hearing last week.

A district judge July 1 dismissed the case against Nathan R. Wolfe, 31, two weeks after state police accused him and another man of trying to break into a vending machine in Pulaski Township, Lawrence County.

“The judge dismissed the case because there was no evidence of any of the charges against my client,” said attorney David Acker.

The vending machine, it turned out, was not working at the time of the alleged crime.

“Someone had previously tampered with it,” Acker said, “and the machine had no pop and no money.”

Police were notified about 6:30 a.m. June 16 that two men in a sport utility vehicle were trying to break into a vending machine at the Italian Take-Out restaurant on Route 422.

The caller, who owns the business, provided the license plate number and said the men fled east on Route 422.

“The owner was suspicious, that’s all, when he called police, ”Acker said.

Police stopped the SUV on Route 422 in Butler County and arrested Wolfe and Robert W. Wright, 50, of Kittanning.

Both were arraigned on charges of attempted theft, conspiracy to commit theft and possessing instruments of crime.

The defendants were placed in the Lawrence County Jail on $25,000 bail each. Wolfe was released from jail after his case was dismissed.

Wright on June 24 waived his charges to court, court records showed.