A suspected serial car thief is headed for trial on charges tied to an alleged summer crime spree that spanned Butler and two other counties.

District Judge Pete Shaffer at a preliminary hearing Monday ordered Michael D. Manno, 40, of Blackshear, Ga., held for court on a string of felonies.

Investigators with the state police Auto Theft Task Force allege Manno stole and “dumped” three vehicles in Butler, Allegheny and Somerset counties in July.

Authorities believe he took the vehicles to further his other alleged illegal enterprise — breaking and entering.

A Pennsylvania native with a long police record, Manno remains in the Butler County Prison on $150,000 bail.

County Detective John Hertzog, who is assigned to the state police Auto Theft Task Force, was the lone witness to testify Monday.

He detailed the defendant’s purported path of crime that touched off investigations in three states.

The Pennsylvania end of the investigation began July 17 when an employee’s 1996 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera turned up stolen from the Butler Memorial Hospital parking garage, Hertzog said.

In the parking space next to where the car had been parked was a 2002 Ford Econoline full-sized van.

Investigators linked the car and van since the Econoline’s ignition had been broken. The van also was listed as stolen the day before in Charlottesville, Va.

Virginia authorities were already investigating the stolen van and recovered a car with a stolen Georgia license plate in the same parking lot where the van had been taken.

Manno emerged as a suspect when the car was traced to him, Hertzog testified.

The defendant, who is from the Pittsburgh area and has relatives in Somerset County, had recently been living in southeastern Georgia.

Investigators believe that after stealing the car in Butler, Manno on July 21 broke into a shed at a boating equipment distributor in Friedens, Somerset County.

He allegedly stole nearly $5,000 worth of power tools. He made his getaway by allegedly stealing a 2009 Ford Econoline that belonged to the business.

Hertzog said authorities suspect Manno took that van after dumping a 2005 Ford Econoline he had stolen earlier from a Pittsburgh business.

Investigators soon got a lead on the tools stolen from the Somerset firm. Some of the items were being advertised for sale on Craigslist.

Eventually, Hertzog got two search warrants — one to review the Craigslist postings and another to review Manno’s cell phone records.

“There were many, many hits on the phone,” Hertzog told prosecutor Richard Bosco, a county assistant district attorney.

The “hits” were from different cell tower sites, he explained, that connected Manno’s whereabouts to the alleged crime spree.

The U.S. Marshal’s Western Pennsylvania Fugitive Task Force on Sept. 2 arrested Manno after finding him in a house in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty section.

Hertzog said Manno “showed no surprise and didn’t question the charges” when investigators tried to interview him.

He initially seemed willing to discuss his role in the crimes but apparently sought assurance that authorities would help reduce his criminal exposure in return for his cooperation.

“I told him a statement would have to come first,” Hertzog said.

Ultimately, Manno declined to give a recorded statement.

On cross-examination by Manno’s attorney, public defender Charles Nedz, Hertzog conceded that investigators presently have no physical evidence linking Manno to any of the stolen vehicles or the burglary in Somerset County.

Still, Shaffer ruled there was sufficient evidence to hold Manno for trial on charges of burglary, four counts of theft and five counts of receiving stolen property.

But the judge dismissed a charge that Manno was part of a corrupt organization.

Shaffer agreed with Nedz’s argument that testimony at the hearing suggested Manno, if responsible for the crimes, acted alone.