An 18-year-old Greenville man was sentenced to state prison and ordered to pay a large sum of restitution for his role in what police said was a weeklong crime spree involving stolen cars, runaway juveniles and nights of camping in the Tionesta area of Allegheny National Forest.

Joseph P. Cresswell, 230 Coal Hill Road, was sentenced Wednesday by Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Wherry to 1 to 5 years in state prison, although he will be eligible for a boot camp program.

Cresswell will be given credit for 107 days served in Mercer County Jail.

He was also ordered to pay about $14,000 in restitution, said Public Defender Randall T. Hetrick.

In a case that Hetrick described as "somewhat complicated," he pointed out to the judge that Cresswell cooperated with police at the time of his arrest.

Cresswell pleaded guilty to two counts of receiving stolen property in one case and one count of receiving stolen property in another case.

Police gave the following account of the incident that lead to Cresswell's arrest:

Cresswell, John Thompson, 18, who has no known address, and 19-year-old Charlotte Weaver of Salem Township, drove to Kinsman in a car stolen from Greenville Aug. 4. The trio ditched the car in a field and stole another one.

While in Kinsman the men jumped from the second stolen car when they saw a police car heading in their direction but Ms. Weaver stayed in the car. After she was questioned by police, she was driven back to the Greenville area.

Cresswell and Thompson walked back to Pennsylvania and stole a pickup in West Salem Township.

After the men learned Ms. Weaver was back in Greenville, they picked her up and headed to Erie, where they picked up two 14-year-old female runaways that they knew. The group of five then headed to Tionesta where they camped.

Cramped in the cab of the pickup, the group decided to steal another car from Sugar Grove Township and then drove back to Tionesta. One of the runaways, however, wrecked the stolen car there.

The group then piled back into one car and headed back to Greenville.

Police said they got information the group was staying at a residence in Pymatuning Township and arrested Cresswell, Thompson and one of the runaways there.

Ms. Weaver and the other runaway were caught the next day in Greenville.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Kristen Garrett at
kgarrett@sharonherald.com