House Arrest for Former Collier Auto Store Manager

This article was written by Robert Edward Healy, III and posted by Erin Faulk.

Matthew Ryan Jankowski, a former Baldwin Borough Volunteer Firefighters' Relief Association president and former assistant manager at Mr. Tire Auto Service Center along Washington Pike, has been sentenced to one year of an intermediate punishment program and five years of probation after pleading guilty to stealing from his employer, court records show.

The punishment program includes house arrest with eligibility for work, school and medical release, a representative of Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph K. Williams III's office said on Monday. Judge Williams issued Jankowski's sentence, which also includes an order to pay $33,000 in restitution to his victim, on Friday.

Jankowski, who is listed as a member of Baldwin Independent Fire Company No. 1 on the company's website (as of Monday), will have to make regular yearly payments of $3,300 on the balance of restitution owed, according to court records.

Jankowski no longer serves on the relief association, and whether or not he will remain as a Baldwin Borough firefighter is yet to be seen.

"His membership is under review," Bill Connors, Baldwin No. 1's deputy chief and public information officer, said on Monday.

Jankowski, 31, of Whitehall Borough, faced numerous theft charges after investigators said that he stole nearly $50,000 worth of parts and labor from December 2011 to May 2012 from the tire retailer where he was working.

Collier Township police alleged that the former assistant manager at Mr. Tire Auto Service Center along Washington Pike stole nearly $50,000 worth of parts and labor from Mr. Tire during the aforementioned time period. Upon his arrest in August 2012, police said that co-workers discovered that he was voiding invoices after customers had paid him for repairs.

Investigators eventually withdrew three felony theft charges and four misdemeanor theft counts against Jankowski, but he ultimately pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft by deception-false impression and two misdemeanor counts of the same offense.