Carnegie man identified as suspect in theft of pickup from Sheetz in New Kensington

Police say they used DNA and surveillance video to identify a man accused of stealing a pickup from the Sheetz parking lot on Freeport Street in New Kensington last year.

New Kensington police charged Michael Joseph Spears, 29, of Carnegie on Wednesday with a felony count of theft.

In a criminal complaint against Spears, New Kensington police said a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup was taken from the Sheetz parking lot at 325 Freeport St. shortly before 5 p.m. Jan. 9, 2021.

Police said the owner told officers he had left the vehicle running and unlocked when he went into the convenience store.

Two suspects were seen on the store’s surveillance camera. They both got in the pickup and left from the store’s back parking lot toward Main Street.

Police found the pickup almost a year later, on Jan. 10, behind the Blind Pig bar at 1100 Seventh St. It was parked and unoccupied.

After the owner picked up the vehicle, police said they learned the man’s cellphone, gas card, welding helmet and a grinder were missing.

The man turned over a pair of shorts and a money clip found in the truck.

The shorts were sent to the state police crime lab in Greensburg for DNA testing. The DNA was identified as belonging to Spears, police said.

On March 3, police carried out a search warrant to get a DNA sample from Spears at the Westmoreland County jail. The DNA identification was confirmed July 1, and police said they believe Spears is the suspect in the theft based on that and the video surveillance.

Spears did not have an attorney listed in court records.

He was arraigned Wednesday before New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. and is being held in the county jail on $25,000 bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 11 before Pallone.