Burglaries lead to prison sentence; man charged with more than 170 counts

Police filed more than 170 counts related to burglaries and thefts committed by a Burgettstown man who was sentenced Tuesday to spend 3 to 10 years in prison.
Michael Ray Lowe, 28, of 13 Railroad St., pleaded guilty in December to 22 counts of burglary.
Washington County Judge Gary Gilman also ordered Lowe to pay nearly $66,000 in restitution to the victims, which include both businesses and individuals. The judge also prohibited Lowe from having any contact with them.
Assistant District Attorney Dominic Carrola called as a witness Adult Probation Office caseworker Jeremy Crow, who prepared a pre-sentence investigation and testified there was nothing in Lowe’s background that would prevent him from entering a state drug treatment court.
Lowe’s attorney, C.J. Blackwell, declined to elaborate on his client’s drug problem after the sentencing hearing, saying that this information was not “a matter of public record,” but that Lowe “has been candid about his drug use” and had “significant drug issues.”
The state Legislature acted a few days after Lowe’s plea to change the Intermediate Punishment Program for defendants who require treatment for drug abuse.
“It’s just that difference in procedure that changed, and because of that, he could not be transported for those evaluations until a minimum and a maximum sentence was set on his case, which brings us here today,” Blackwell said.
Lowe appeared via video connection at the county jail, where he has been incarcerated for more than a year.
Smith Township police filed charges in conjunction with break-ins in their area, and South Strabane Township police followed suit with a second spate of charges.
According to the criminal complaint, Lowe told Smith police he had broken into at least nine homes, 10 sheds and garages, and stole 21 catalytic converters from vehicles at used car and auto service lots.
Police said Lowe admitted to stealing copper piping, copper wiring, a laptop, a camera, video games, video game consoles and baseboard heaters from at least 13 of the buildings.
According to the complaint, he broke into buildings by kicking in doors, prying open windows and cutting out window screens.
He told police he stole 12 catalytic converters from Sarracino’s Auto Sales in Burgettstown, seven from Wysocki Inc. in Smith Township and two from Wally’s Auto Services in Smith Township.
According to the criminal complaint, Lowe stole a golf cart from the parking lot of T’s Locker Room in Smith Township to transport the converters from Wysocki Inc.
He cut the converters from the vehicles using a battery-powered Sawzall, according to police.
Lowe also allegedly said that he drilled holes into the fuel tanks of two vehicles at Wally’s Auto Service and drained the gasoline into cans.
He reported two accomplices would drive him to scrap yards in Pennsylvania and West Virginia to steal catalytic converters and copper wiring.
Lowe also gave a “detailed confession” to other thefts he committed at Washington Auto Mall and a garage in South Strabane Township, police said. McDonald police also participated in the investigation.