Man sentenced in retail theft case
An Allegheny County man charged with leading police on a chase following a retail theft was sentenced to probation in Butler County Court on Thursday.
Jordan Filsinger, 25, of Avalon was sentenced to 24 months' probation by Judge Timothy McCune. He was also ordered to pay $300 in fines and $740.71 in restitution, as well as submit 25 hours of community service and undergo any recommended counseling after previously pleading guilty to misdemeanor fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement, conspiracy to retail theft, receiving stolen property and summary driving on a suspended license on Sept. 6.
He was initially charged with felony counts, which were later changed to misdemeanors as part of the plea.
Filsinger was charged alongside his father, Patrick J. Filsinger, 49, of Pittsburgh, after an incident on Dec. 21, 2016, in Cranberry Township, where police say the two stole more than $740 worth of items from Walmart, and then led police on a chase.
Police said items stolen included two LED televisions, two Blu-ray disc players, a PlayStation 4 headset and two 12-packs of soda.
Video surveillance in the store showed Patrick Filsinger walking out of the store with the cart through the lawn and garden center's emergency exit and loading the items in the duo's Chevrolet Cavalier, before Jordan Filsinger drove off at a high rate of speed, police said.
The car then turned onto Route 19 southbound and “swerved erratically” several times before stopping past the stop bar at the intersection between routes 19 and 228, then merging onto Interstate 79 southbound.
Despite attempts to stop them, the Filsingers' continued onto the interstate in excess of 90 mph, and the chase was called off at the Camp Horne Road exit on Interstate 279 southbound.
Warrants were issued and the two were later arrested. It was later found that Jordan Filsinger had a suspended license and was twice convicted of retail theft, and two active warrants existed for him at the time.
He was arraigned and held in the Butler County Prison on $20,000 bail, which was later changed to $10,000 and posted.
Patrick Filsinger's charges were eventually dismissed.
