The jury trial for a Clay Township man charged by state police with removing the engine from a minivan he rented and installing it into a larger van he purchased in 2020 resumes Wednesday, Oct. 11, in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Steven M. Ewida, 35, is facing felony charges of operating a vehicle chop shop, altering or destroying a vehicle identification number, disposition of a vehicle or part with an altered vehicle identification number, theft and receiving stolen property.

“This is a case about greed,” Robert Zanella, assistant district attorney, said Tuesday in his opening statement, in which he outlined the case against Ewida.

Defense attorney Ryan Tutera said the prosecution can’t prove the allegations and state police made many mistakes in their investigation. He said the minivan had 75 more miles on its odometer than what police said it had, and that creates reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.

The first witness was Sean Tosadori, co-owner of Total Tank Works in East Butler, who said he sold Ewida a 2016 Dodge Ram ProMaster 1500 van with “something blown in the engine” in February or March of 2020 for $200.

The vehicle, which had 119,210 miles on it, ran, but could not go faster than 40 mph and was loud. It wasn't running well enough to use, he said

He said he advertised the vehicle on a social media website, and Ewida responded.

Carrie Huerbin, risk specialist for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, said Ewida rented a 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan from Enterprise’s office in Monroeville in Allegheny County on April 30 and was supposed to return it May 7.

After the minivan was returned, Enterprise’s vehicle repair department had it taken to a Monroeville Dodge dealership, which discovered the engine wasn’t the one that belonged in it, she said.

After reporting the engine stolen to Monroeville police, she said she reviewed security video from the office with state police and saw that the minivan had been towed to the office on a flatbed truck.

Gregor Saulsbery, who was the service manager at Monroeville Dodge at the time, said he inspected the minivan on May 13 and found the engine was not the one that came with it and it didn’t run.

During a subsequent inspection with state police present, he said he pointed out numerous other problems with the minivan and police took photos of them.

He said the serial number on the engine had been ground off, the engine and transmission were not mated together, the fuel line had been cut and leaked fuel when a mechanic tried to start it, bolts that hold the radiator in place were missing, the air conditioning condenser was not connected, an air conditioning line was cut, engine mount bolts were missing, the crankshaft pulley belt was missing, the rusty oil pan and bolts appeared to be older than what they should look like on a 2019 vehicle, the transmission leaked, there was no oil in the engine, sensor lines were not connected, a wire harness and other parts contained date codes from a 2015 vehicle, an oxygen sensor connector was broken, and an axle was not connected.

The repair cost estimate was $13,000, which included a new engine and parts, he said. It had 10,541 miles on it when it was pushed into the shop, he said.

Several state troopers from the Western Region Auto Theft Task Force testified about a May 19 “knock and talk” visit they made to Ewida’s home. The troopers arrested Ewida after talking with him and finding a white van that had an engine with the serial number ground off and finding a label from an engine from a 2019 Dodge Caravan.

Trooper Jason Morgan, the lead investigator, said that on May 18 Saulsbery showed him the issues he found in the minivan. He said the engine number, which is stamped on the engine, was missing, but the vehicle identification number remain attached to the vehicle.

Troopers went to Ewida’s home on May 19 after learning he had rented the minivan.

Ewida allowed the troopers to search his property, and a white ProMaster van was in plain view partially inside a tent in the driveway next to a garage, Morgan said.

Morgan said the engine number had been ground off, but an engine label from a 2019 Caravan owned by Enterprise was found.

Co-defense counsel Al Lindsay asked Morgan to explain a discrepancy in the mileage on the minivan. Lindsay showed Morgan a letter that stated the minivan had 10,466 miles.

Morgan said he wrote the letter to Enterprise to request documents, but the mileage number is not correct. He said one of the photos entered as evidence shows the odometer reading 10,541 miles. He said he doesn’t know where the 10,466 number came from.

Lindsay asked several witnesses if they had seen a report from Enterprise about the condition of the minivan when it was returned. None of the witnesses said they had seen such a report. Morgan said he didn’t know such reports existed.