Former Sonic Manager Held for Trial in Thefts From Three Restaurants

The manager of three  restaurants will stand trial on more than $13,000 from the Wexford, Richland and Frazer drive-in eateries.

Dennis Craig Heaton, 30, of New Kensington, on Friday waived his right to a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Regis Welsh Jr. Welsh also reduced his bond to $2,500.

A formal arraignment is set for Sept. 21 in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

Heaton has been held in the Allegheny County Jail on $15,000 bond since his arrest Monday.

Welsh told him to come up with $250 -- 10 percent of the $2,500 bond -- and he would be released from jail.

But first, he told Heaton, "I have an issue with your reliability about coming back."

Heaton assured the judge that he was not going to flee and that he understood the serious consequences of not showing up in court.

He said his wife was at home Friday and has been trying to "sell stuff" to raise money. Heaton said they have two young children, and he has another two children with an ex-wife who lives in another state.

Welsh noted that Heaton has not been arrested before this incident.

Heaton, who appeared in court in handcuffs and ankle cuffs, is facing three felony charges of theft for failing to make bank deposits, according to court records.

The Allegheny County District Attorney's office charged him Monday following an investigation that also involved police from the  and Frazer departments, authorities said.

As the operations director for the three Sonic restaurants, Heaton's responsibilities included depositing daily receipts from each location at , according to an affidavit filed by investigators to support his arrest.

Representatives of Ferraccio Drive-In Restaurants, which franchises the Sonic restaurants, contacted police in July to report that daily deposits from the three restaurants were not being made on time, according to the affidavit.

Between June 27 and July 27, 10 deposits totaling $13,817 were not made to the bank as required, investigators said. 

Company officials told investigators that Heaton, in email exchanges with them, offered numerous excuses for making the late deposits.