After a district court hearing in Butler on Monday, a woman approached a 36-year-old man accused of stealing from her in an attempt to recover her smartphone, which she estimated costs around $1,000.

During the preliminary hearing before District Judge William Fullerton, Ewari W. Ellis of Butler waived to county court charges of false reports, theft from a vehicle and two counts each of access device fraud, theft by deception and receiving stolen property, all misdemeanors.

Ellis has no lawyer, but he stated during the hearing that he intends to get a public defender.

Police suspect that Ellis stole a purse from the car of a woman who gave him a ride after she left a Butler bar in the early morning hours of Aug. 5. She did not immediately notice her purse was missing.

“No good deed goes unpunished,” the woman said after the hearing Monday, alleging that she had two phones in her purse — a Galaxy S10 and S7.

The woman, who denied knowing Ellis, confronted the defendant after the hearing about her two smartphones.

But the police report made no mention of stolen phones. And Ellis was not charged with stealing a phone.

According to the report, police discovered that a debit card from her purse was used at two city stores around 11 a.m. Aug. 5.

A copy of a sales receipt from the Metro PCS store showed a $200 phone was purchased with the victim's card. The signature on the receipt, according to charging documents, “appeared to spell out the word 'thief.'”

At the nearby Butler Beer & Tobacco store, the card was used to buy beer and cigarettes totaling $42.99. The receipt for that purchase also was signed “thief.”

The arresting city police officer was unavailable for comment.