A Wilkinsburg resident was one of two men involved in stealing an SUV from a Sheetz parking lot in New Kensington last week, city police allege.

Police charged Markhi Deondre Hunter, 19, of South Avenue with theft and receiving stolen property.

In a criminal complaint against Hunter, police said a Chevrolet Equinox was reported stolen about 1:20 a.m. March 16 from the Sheetz at 325 Freeport St.

It was the seventh vehicle stolen from the New Kensington Sheetz since Nov. 10, police Chief Bob Deringer said.

All seven have been recovered; the most recent vehicle stolen was the first to be recovered in New Kensington. The others were found in McKees Rocks, Wilkinsburg, Pittsburgh and East Pittsburgh.

Deringer said the first vehicle taken, on Nov. 10, was found in the possession of Hunter and three passengers that same day in McKees Rocks. McKees Rocks police charged Hunter with receiving stolen property, and he is awaiting trial, according to court records.

In the March 16 case, police said an officer saw a vehicle matching the description of the stolen SUV at Third Avenue and Ninth Street, and found it abandoned and running at 300 Sixth St.

An Arnold officer reported seeing two men in the proximity of the vehicle in Cherry Alley and said they ran toward Industrial Boulevard. When the officer checked the area the men ran from, they found a 9 mm Glock magazine containing live ammunition in front of 520 Industrial Blvd., the complaint said.

The men, however, were not found, police said.

The SUV owner described one of the men as Black, tall and wearing a blue jacket; the other was Black, short and wearing a black mask, the complaint said.

Video footage from the store showed two men getting into the vehicle, police said. The tall man was seen wearing a blue jacket with a white stripe, black jeans and white shoes, according to the complaint.

About 3:25 p.m. the same day, a New Kensington officer on patrol in the area of Industrial Boulevard saw a man wearing clothing similar to that of one of the suspects in the vehicle theft, police said.

Police said Hunter initially gave police a different name.

Hunter agreed to talk with police and admitted to being the passenger in the stolen SUV but said nothing further when asked about the pursuit and abandoning it, police said. He refused to give the driver’s name and stopped talking to police, according to the complaint.

Deringer said police do not know who the driver is. The case remains under investigation.

Hunter did not have an attorney listed in court records.

He is scheduled to be arraigned before New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. on April 1.

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