Md. woman gets probation for unauthorized use of car
A Maryland woman was sentenced to probation in Butler County Court Thursday, after being charged with stealing a man's car and fleeing the state.
Karen E. Pfeiler, 33, was sentenced to one year of county probation by President Judge Thomas Doerr.
She was also ordered to pay court costs, $842 in restitution and complete any counseling recommended by the Butler County Adult Probation Office, as well as 20 hours of community service.
Doerr also allowed her supervision to be transferred to Maryland.
Pfeiler pleaded guilty April 11 to misdemeanor unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
She was initially charged with felony theft and receiving stolen property by Cranberry Township police after an incident on Nov. 6.
The unauthorized use charge to which she pleaded was later added, and the remaining charges were dismissed as part of the plea.
Police said Pfeiler took a man's car, wallet and phone as he was helping her move from Indiana to Maryland.
Police said the vehicle's owner, a man from Columbus City, Ind., reported that he was helping Pfeiler move her belongings to a home of a friend in Dundalk, Md., when they stopped at the Red Roof Inn on Route 19 in Cranberry Township for the night.
When he awoke that morning, he found his 2014 Chevrolet Cruze, a wallet with $350 in cash and six credit cards, and a phone valued at $650 missing. Pfeiler was nowhere to be found, the man told police.
Using a location application on the phone, police tracked it that day near Somerset and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Pfeiler was later arrested in Maryland and extradited back to Pennsylvania. She was initially held on $25,000 bail, which was later reduced to pretrial supervision and she was released.
Her attorney, assistant public defender Charles Nedz, said Pfeiler had reunited with her ex-husband in Maryland, when the relationship became abusive and she took her co-worker's car and fled.
“She accepts responsibility for her actions,” he said. “The victim in this case is a friend of hers, and is OK with the plea agreement. He understands why she did what she did and she intends to pay the price for her actions.”
