A man in western Pennsylvania faces criminal charges after he allegedly flushed his grandparents' ashes down a toilet after his mother kicked him out of her home in McKeesport, PA.

Thomas Wells, 33, had been staying with his mother at her Pittsburgh home for a brief time until she asked him to leave last September, The Tribune-Review reported. Wells' mother, Denise Porter, told police she had become tired of her son's drinking and marijuana use when she asked him to leave.

A few months later, Porter told police she learned from a relative that her son had flushed her late mother and father's remains down a toilet before leaving her house, a criminal complaint states. The ashes had been kept in a box set up with a memorial in Porter's bedroom.

Wells denied flushing the ashes in a phone conversation with his mother, but Porter said Wells later told her in a text message he would flush her remains down a toilet after she died, the complaint stated.

The 33-year-old faces two counts of abuse of a corpse and one count of criminal mischief. He was arraigned on Monday and is scheduled to return to court on May 13.

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