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Men charged with posing as church workers, stealing thousands from Bethel Park store

Police said a man used his job at a church to steal thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise from a hardware store in Bethel Park.

John and Ryan Brooks are accused of theft by deception, Bethel Park police said.

Police said the Brooks’ went to a Miller's Hardware store for well over a month, claiming to work for the Bible Chapel in McMurray.

The owner of the store said the brothers charged upwards of $5,000 worth of power tools and gift cards using the church’s credit account.

"It's extremely frustrating. It's disheartening,” said Greg Gold, owner of Miller Ace Hardware Bethel Park. "It's extremely frustrating when we have this kind of a theft situation and lose that amount of money on (an) inventory case. It’s probably something (we’re) not going to be able to recover."

Investigators discovered that one of the brothers was a former employee at the church and was familiar with how to charge items.

"(The church) actually feels bad about what happened, because in a sense, it was one of their former employees taking advantage of a situation,” Gold said.

He said the church has not been invoiced, and he will likely turn over the charges to insurance.

His message to the suspects is clear.

"Have no sympathy for these guys. They brought this on themselves; they made these choices."

Employees at Ace Miller Hardware are being trained on recognizing fraudulent purchases, and the owners plan to upgrade their computer software.

Wilbur Harmon, executive director of the Bible Chapel, issued a statement that read in part:

"We are always disappointed when someone resorts to committing a crime.  We are praying for all involved and hope they seek a different course with their lives. Lastly, we are aware of one suspect, a former employee of The Bible Chapel. The other two suspects are not familiar to us at this time."

The brothers remain in jail. Stay with Channel 11 News and WPXI.com for continuing coverage.