Man sentenced to probation for theft of two rental cars
A Warren County man was sentenced to probation in relation to five cases in Butler County Court on Thursday.
Luke M. Sturdevant, 32, of Warren, Pa., was sentenced to three years probation by Butler County Judge William Shaffer, after previously pleading guilty to several charges, including misdemeanor theft of leased property, theft by deception, retail theft and possession of drug paraphernalia.
His attorney, Public Defender Joseph Smith, said the charges stem from a “bad period of addiction” which Sturdevant now has behind him.
The charges stem from the theft of two rental cars in Butler, a retail theft, a false check case and a traffic stop in Penn Township.
Sturdevant had been wanted by the Butler City police since Jan. 17, after an arrest warrant was issued on allegations that he rented a 2015 Ford Fiesta from Hertz Rent A Car on North Monroe Street on Nov. 15 and never returned it.
Police eventually were able to reach him by telephone, and he reported he no longer had the car, having asked a friend named “Brandon” to return the car. The defendant, however, did not know “Brandon's” last name, or his address, or his telephone number, police said.
Less than three months later, on Feb. 8, he then rented a 2010 Ford Focus from Leeway Rent-A-Car on Pillow Street, and also failed to return that car, police said.
An officer stopped the defendant's car 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.
A full report will appear in the Butler Eagle.
