A 40-year-old Pittsburgh man will have to pay more than a combined $50,000 in restitution as part of his criminal sentences for writing bad checks in 2018 and theft in 2019.

Brandon T. Colella pleaded guilty in Butler County Court of Common Pleas on March 10 to writing bad checks. The restitution order must be made to P.T. Cook Brick Company, a building materials store based out of Cranberry Township. Along with the payment, Judge Timothy McCune sentenced Colella on June 18 to five years probation.

According to a police report, Cranberry Township Police received a report of a bad check from the brick company on July 26, 2018. The owner of the company told police the check was issued to her company from Colella for the amount of $42,000.

According to police, Colella gave the check to the company to pay for purchases made between February and July 2018. After the check was processed, it was bounced back from Colella's Brentwood Bank checking account.

Police said the check bounced because there wasn't enough money in Colella's account. The company told Colella about the bounced check, and he gave them another check in the amount of $47,839.32. When the company went to process that check on July 26, 2018, Colella placed a stop payment on it, preventing the brick company from getting its owed funds. By the time police filed a criminal charge in August 2018, he owed the company $49,001.08, which Colella will now have to pay back as part of his sentence.

In a second case, McCune also sentenced Colella on June 18 to five years of probation. He must also pay a $1,947.91 restitution order to the victim for theft, a misdemeanor. Colella originally faced an additional charge of bad checks, but it was dropped when he pleaded guilty to theft March 10.

On March 6, 2019, Butler State Police received a report from a man who said his company, Nesbit's Landscape Supply, received an order for supplies from a man who called himself Brandon, and said he was with Brian Homes, a Pittsburgh-based company. The supplies were delivered to Colella at a residence in Mount Lebanon on May 7, 2019. Colella wrote a check for $1,947.91 to cover the cost of the supplies. But when the check was later deposited into the victim's account, they found out the check was attached to a closed bank account. The victim called Brian Homes to find out what happened, but the company told the victim that Colella didn't work there. Colella was arrested by state police on July 3, 2019.