Mt. Pleasant, state police investigating skill game machine thefts

Mt. Pleasant borough police are investigating a string of thefts from skill game machines in the area.

In the most recent theft, about $20,000 — primarily in fraudulent winning tickets — was obtained from machines that were broken into at Mt. Pleasant Express on West Main Street on Wednesday.

Police were called to the store shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday for a report of two males stealing money from the skill game machines. A borough police officer pulled into the parking lot and saw a Black male wearing the same clothing as described by a 911 caller and detained him.

The man, later identified as Brian Antonio Oliver, 23, of Sumter, Ga., had two caches of $20 bills in his pockets, each totaling $180, along with an unclaimed skill game winning ticket for the same amount, according to court documents. In total, police found $537 in Oliver’s pockets.

Police said Oliver also had a key, later confirmed by a store employee to be the key that unlocks the skill game machines when they are restocked with cash, according to court papers.

Security footage from the store showed two other Black men with Oliver. One was speaking to the clerk as the other broke into the machine and removed cash. The man also manipulated the machine in order to print out more than 60 fraudulent winning tickets in amounts ranging from $140 to $280.

During questioning, Oliver told police he did not know the other two suspects, and had met them recently at a local restaurant. He also admitted that he was given “two or three winning tickets” by one of the men and cashed them, according to a police affidavit.

Oliver was charged with aiding a criminal conspiracy, receiving stolen property and criminal mischief. He was unable to post bail and taken to the Westmoreland County Prison. An Aug. 27 preliminary hearing is set.

A store employee also took a photo of the license plate of the car the men arrived in. Police asked the public to be on the lookout for a 2023 black Jeep Cherokee with Illinois license plate FP232800.

Anyone with information is asked to call 724-547-7210.

Additional case in Indiana County

State police also are asking the public to be on the lookout for a car suspected in a case with very similar circumstances from a few months ago.

Two Black men entered a BP gas station on Washington Street in Saltsburg on April 10. One man distracted the cashier as the other man broke into and tampered with one of the store’s skill game machines.

The men arrived in a silver or gray Chrysler 300 sedan. Anyone with information is asked to call 724-357-1960 and reference case number PA-2025-452209.

State police spokesperson Trooper Cliff Greenfield said his department was not aware of the arrest in the Mt. Pleasant investigation.