Our Pittsburgh theft defense attorneys know that there are a number of ways to create reasonable doubt in a Pittsburgh theft case.

However, it's important for defendants to discuss these options first with an experienced attorney. Otherwise, they may end up facing other charges, such as perjury or obstruction of justice.

According to news channel CBS Pittsburgh, a city employee purchased some $10,000 worth of chainsaws with taxpayer dollars, which he then turned around and stole - and possibly stole - the equipment.

What may have made matters worse for him, however, is that once the chainsaws went missing, he pointed the finger at his neighbor.

This highlights an important point when it comes to your Pittsburgh criminal defense: If you're being investigated for a crime, you absolutely should not give a statement to police without first consulting with your Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney. That said, you also should not lie to police either. What this does is destroy your credibility - which may be important to keep intact if your case goes before a jury. And almost guaranteed, if you lie to police, they and prosecutors will make an issue of it later on in court.

In this case, the employee reportedly purchased the chainsaws without permission from the city.

He then reportedly had stored the chainsaws in his own basement. Then, according to police, he reported the chainsaws stolen.

Investigators say the employee went so far as to plant a hammer in the yard of a neighbor, in hopes of implicating him in the larger theft.

What may present even more challenges for his attorneys was that he gave a media interview shortly after reporting the theft, saying that he had been trying to do something good, and was taken advantage of by someone in his own neighborhood. He described the theft as "scary."

It's not clear from the report how police determined it was actually the employee who planted the hammer - and that may be an important point for his Pittsburgh criminal defense attorneys to focus on.

He was subsequently arrested on a charge of grand theft and released on $5,000 bail.