Luke Sturdevant

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 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.

Sturdevant was also order to pay $10,451.65 in restitution.

His attorney, Public Defender Joseph Smith, said the charges stem from a “bad period of addiction” which Sturdevant now has behind him.

“He has been in treatment since then and is doing very well,” Smith said.

Sturdevant told Shaffer that he completed a long-term treatment program in Franklin County, and then another program which he finished just two days before sentencing, and is now employed with that program as a peer treatment specialist.

He thanked the court for the “opportunity to honestly change my life,” and the program for “the opportunity to continue working in the treatment field.”

Sturdevant said he wishes to work with younger teens “who come from backgrounds such as myself to help change the course of their lives.”

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.

He was also charged in the retail theft incident that occurred on Feb. 8 in Butler Township.

Penn Township Police then charged him with theft by deception and related counts after they said he allegedly paid a Penn Township car dealership for a $2,153 repair bill with a check Dec. 12 that was written on an account that had less than $10 in it. The repairs were for a 2011 Subaru.

They also charged with him the paraphernalia charge stemming from a traffic stop March 10 on Route 8.

An officer stopped the defendant's Subaru 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.

He was held in the Butler County Prison on bail in several of the cases, which were later changed to unsecured and he was released.