Tony Armstead's finances were stretched to the limit after he filed for bankruptcy in October 2006.

That's when, according to detectives from the Allegheny County district attorney's office, he started to scam his grandmother out of her home.

Mr. Armstead, 38, was arrested yesterday and charged with two counts of theft from Helen Armstead of Oakland. Detectives said she thought she was getting money for building repairs from a "program," but Mr. Armstead actually had sold her property.

According to a criminal complaint, Mr. Armstead told his grandmother he wanted to reopen a convenience store attached to her home that had been operated by Mr. Armstead's late grandfather.

For the needed repairs, Mr. Armstead said they could get money from a program. Ms. Armstead told investigators that her grandson also advised her to turn the property over to his name to get better credit, then he would transfer it back later.

Acting with her power of attorney -- which Mr. Armstead admitted to investigators he did not legally have -- he sold the property to his father-in-law, David Hull of Washington, Pa., for $60,000. Mr. Hull took out a mortgage and Mr. Armstead gave his grandmother a $17,000 check, which she thought was from a program for the repairs, according to the complaint.

She said she discovered her house had been sold when she started getting mail addressed to Mr. Hull.

Mr. Hull told investigators that he entered a rent-to-own agreement with Mr. Armstead so he could buy back the home, but Mr. Armstead's payments since then have been sporadic and he has made no effort to reopen the store.

Mr. Hull told investigators that he is now stuck with the property, which had a listed market value of only $21,400. The additional value in the mortgage was meant to be used for repairs and startup capital for the store, according to the complaint.

Mr. Hull told investigators he had no interest in running the store and did it only as a favor to his son-in-law. He said he has helped Mr. Armstead out with money before.

Mr. Armstead used $13,800 of the money gained by refinancing the home to pay off a previous loan and told investigators that he had paid for repairs and upgrades to the store, though he offered no proof. He said not giving Mr. Hull the mortgage payments was part of an agreement because he was paying Mr. Hull $1,500 a month to lease a gas station they were going to operate as partners.

In interviews with detectives, Mr. Armstead, who had owned a failing janitorial company and was a minister, admitted that he had not given his grandmother enough detail about what was happening with the property, but denied purposeful wrongdoing.