David Beilstein

BUTLER TWP — A township man was arrested Friday after police say he sold a stolen jigsaw — back to its owner.

David Lee Beilstein, 34, of Butler Township was already wanted on an unrelated felony arrest warrant when Butler Township police took him into custody.

At the time, he also was free on bail in connection with still another criminal case.

District Judge Sue Haggerty arraigned Beilstein on misdemeanor counts of receiving stolen property and theft by deception on the latest charges against him. He was placed in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 bail following arraignment.

Township police said the charges followed an investigation that began Dec. 20 when the victim reported that someone had stolen $4,000 worth of tools and other property from his utility trailer.

The unknown thief had used a drill to defeat the lock on the trailer, according to court documents. Among the items stolen was a Ridgid brand jigsaw valued at $79.

The investigating detective Friday noticed on Facebook that Beilstein was advertising a Ridgid jigsaw for sale at a price of $50. Police later contacted the owner to set up a kind of sting operation.

The owner and defendant agreed to meet at the Greater Butler Mart, where the sale was consummated. Police in turn arrested the unwitting seller after a check of the serial number confirmed the saw's rightful owner.

At Beilstein's arraignment Saturday, authorities advised Haggerty of the arrest warrant state police had obtained three days earlier for the defendant stemming from an Oct. 12 break-in in Oakland Township.

He was apparently caught in the act just before noon, troopers said, and made his getaway on a motorized bicycle.

Police spotted the suspect but when they tried to stop him, documents said, he turned into a driveway and “took off down through the woods and fields alongside Bonniebrook Road on his motorized bicycle.

Police by car and on foot were unable to nab the defendant.

Butler Township, however, arrested Beilstein on Jan. 15 after he allegedly broke into four sheds on the 700 to 900 block of Bullcreek Road and Wendell Lane.

Police found him following a two-hour search that began with a call for a man seen walking around a half dozen homes on the 100 block of Wise Road and on Bullcreek Road.

A homeowner out to walk his dog spotted the defendant and notified authorities.

Officers tracked Beilstein in the snow through woods and farm fields before his capture.

He was arraigned on four felony charges of trespass as well as six misdemeanor charges of loitering and prowling at night and other misdemeanor charges of agricultural trespass and criminal mischief.

Following arraignment, he was placed in the county prison. State police on Jan. 19 interviewed him in connection with their investigation.

Court records showed that Beilstein was released from prison Jan. 30 after posting $10,000 bail on the earlier Butler Township charges.

State police the next day charged him in their investigation with burglary and fleeing or attempting to elude police, and obtained the arrest warrant.