An Armstrong County man faces a hearing next month on felony shoplifting charges stemming from the alleged theft of a remote control truck and other items at a Clay Township toy store.

Todd A. Nussbaumer, 41, of Freeport is accused of taking the merchandise, valued at nearly $1,000, on Dec. 13 from Playthings Etc. on Route 8.

The items — a Mojave Desert remote control truck valued at $630, two batteries for the truck and two battery adapters — were discovered missing Dec. 14 while a store employee conducted inventory, according to state police.

Surveillance video was checked, police said, and Nussbaumer was subsequently identified as the suspect seen taking the items without paying for them, and driving off in a pickup truck. In all, the merchandise was valued at $924.25.

The defendant was arraigned Jan. 5 on five felony counts of retail theft. He is free on $10,000 bail.

In Pennsylvania, while normally a summary or misdemeanor offense, retail theft is upgraded to a third-degree felony regardless of the stolen property's value when a defendant has at least two prior convictions for the same crime.

Police noted in their criminal complaint that Nussbaumer has two previous convictions for retail theft.

His preliminary hearing is set Feb. 23 at the office of District Judge Lewis Stoughton in Chicora. Online court records list Benjamin Levine of Cranberry Township as his attorney. Levine could not be reached for comment.