CHICORA — A Butler man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a lesser charge in a 2017 case involving DNA evidence.

But more serious charges against 31-year-old Brandon S. Ward-Smith were withdrawn at the office of District Judge Lewis Stoughton in Chicora following negotiations with the defendant's attorney and the prosecutor.

State police charged Ward-Smith in April with breaking into four vehicles in Summit Township on Feb. 5 and 6, 2017. Items taken from the vehicles included jewelry, a gift card, folding knife and currency valued collectively at a little more than $400.

The thefts occurred at four homes less than a mile apart and just a minute's travel time by vehicle, police said. The proximity of the homes and because all of the thefts occurred within one day of each other led investigators to suspect the same person was involved.

At one of the homes, police found a fresh cigarette in the driveway next to the vehicle that had been ransacked. Investigators sent the cigarette butt off for testing, and subsequently the Combined DNA Index System known as “CODIS,” an FBI database of criminal suspects' biometric data, matched the DNA to Ward-Smith, who already had a felony record.

Convicted felons are required to submit DNA for the database.

Police eventually interviewed him, but he denied he had anything to do with the thefts from the vehicles.

He was charged with five counts each of theft from a vehicle and receiving stolen property. One of the four vehicle break-ins involved two victims, which is the reason for the five counts of each charge.

Ward-Smith appeared Tuesday for his preliminary hearing, but instead pleaded guilty to a third degree misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property.

In exchange, the prosecution withdrew the other charges, all but one of them graded as a first- or second-degree misdemeanor.

As part of the agreement, the defendant will pay $1,926 in combined restitution and lab fees. The lab fees accounted for $1,488 of that total.

“The goal here is to get (the victims) their money and to hold him accountable,” prosecutor David Beichner, a county assistant district attorney, said following the proceedings.

Stephen Misko, Ward-Smith's attorney, said: “It's a fair resolution to a questionable case.” He declined further comment.