The two most prolific members of a multicounty shoplifting ring that struck stores in Cranberry Township were sentenced to jail Thursday.

Daniel Adam Wikert, 28, and Sarah Anne Yost, 28, both of McKees Rocks, Allegheny County, each were sentenced to one year minus a day to two years minus a day.

In Yost's case, she pleaded guilty to a felony organized retail theft and conspiracy to commit retail theft.

Wikert pleaded guilty to conspiracy access and conspiracy to commit retail theft. He also was sentenced to one year of probation. The two were charged Oct. 1, 2019.

Wikert and Yost were charged after an alleged crime ring they were part of targeted Lowe's and Marshalls stores in Cranberry and Allegheny County. Police said the two caused more than $20,000 in losses to the two stores between January and August 2019.

The two initially faced 17 charges, including retail theft, access device fraud, theft by deception, receiving stolen property and conspiracy to commit those crimes.

According to Cranberry detective Sgt. Matthew Irvin's testimony at an earlier hearing, the two committed these crimes “to fund their drug habit.”

According to Irvin's affidavits, the group targeting Marshalls included six people and committed 28 incidents of retail theft or fraudulent returns of stolen goods. Yost committed half of those incidents, one affidavit states, leaving the stores with about $2,500 worth of merchandise.

Members of that group then, according to one affidavit, returned the goods and other merchandise directly from the sales floor for about $4,250 in gift cards.

At five Lowe's stores, according to Irvin, the group committed 37 incidents of theft or fraud, resulting in a total loss to the company of more than $15,000.

One affidavit states Wikert participated in 30 of those incidents, walking out with nearly $5,000 in merchandise and fraudulently returning merchandise for more than $7,300. Yost participated in seven fraudulent returns, totaling nearly $3,000, according to Irvin.

Gift cards from both stores were sold to pawnshops or online secondhand gift card businesses, the affidavits state. While both stores have policies of cataloging identification on returns without receipts, the affidavits state, the members of the rings used other people's IDs, including those of family members.

As part of their sentences, the two must also pay restitution orders.