A Tamaqua man nabbed in a February drug bust was arrested in May for theft, trespass and lying to police.

The charges against Nathan Fritz, 26, just announced this week, stem from two incidents in Lansford.He was charged with false identification to law enforcement, driving under suspension, and trespassing on May 19, and with theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, and criminal mischief on May 23.According to affidavits of probable cause filed by borough police officer Jason Helmer and Christopher Ondrus, here's what happened:At 4:30 p.m. on May 19, Ondrus received a call about a suspicious vehicle that had been parked near 35 Coal St. for a long time. Neighbors were concerned because of recent criminal activity in the area.As Ondrus arrived at the vehicle, a teal pickup pulled in behind it and a man, later identified as Fritz, got out, looked at him and quickly walked away.He spoke to the woman passenger in the vehicle, then walked into a private driveway. Ondrus spoke with the vehicle's occupants, who said they were meeting Fritz to go hiking.As they spoke, a resident came out and told Fritz he was on private property. He ignored her, and walked around her carport and tried to jump over a fence. He then walked back toward Ondrus and the vehicle. He told Ondrus he was looking for a friend who was not at home. Ondrus asked him how he knew the friend wasn't home, and Fritz said a neighbor had told him.Ondrus pointed out that there were no houses where he had been walking."OK, you got me. I was meeting up with my friends, but I don't have any drugs on me," Fritz said.Fritz told Ondrus he had no driver's license. He wrote down his name as Brandon Fritz, and gave a birth date and signed the paper. Ondrus checked and found that his license had been suspended due to driving under the influence.Fritz told Ondrus his girlfriend, Jennifer Stefanick, was the passenger in the vehicle, and that they planned to go hiking.Ondrus let Fritz leave, telling him he'd get citations in the mail.The next day, Ondrus spotted a complaint to police involving Stefanick and her boyfriend, Nathan Fritz. He found a photo of the couple, and immediately recognized the man as the one who had identified himself as Brandon Fritz.On May 22, Ondrus saw Fritz outside the police station and asked him to come in for questioning. He read Fritz his Miranda warnings, which Fritz waived.Fritz gave police a signed statement admitting that it was he who walked through the woman's yard and lied to Ondrus about his identity. It turned out that Brandon Fritz is his brother, who does not have a driver's license.Nathan Fritz's license had been suspended. But on May 23, he applied for a new one, using a different operator license number.That was the same day Fritz was charged by Helmer. At about 4 p.m., Helmer was called to Cabrera's Pizza on West Ridge Street about the theft of a metal grate that covered a heating oil fill tube.The shop's video recorder showed Fritz taking the grate at 7:45 p.m. May 22. He had also been seen sticking his hand through the mail slot at the borough sewer authority office, a few doors away, at about 12:30 p.m.Helmer spotted Fritz at about 1 p.m. May 26 in the area, walking around with his hood up. His pickup had been parked several blocks away.He admitted taking the grate, saying he had to support himself because he was unemployed. He has no permanent address, and is living in his pickup.Fritz was arrested in February during the state Attorney General's much publicized Operation Rising Star drug raid, conducted by the Mobile Street Crimes Unit in Hazleton.He was charged with one count of possession of heroin and one count of possession of paraphernalia.Fritz is currently free on $5,000 unsecured bail.