A Nesquehoning man has been charged with stealing an SUV that was warming up in the Panther Valley Elementary School parking lot.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Pennsylvania State Police - Lehighton barracks in the case against Tyler Kostak:

At 6:13 p.m. Jan. 19, police met with the victim in the parking lot of the school. She said she left her blue Subaru Forester unlocked and running, and that when she came back outside to leave, her vehicle was gone.

Her wallet that included cash and credit cards, as well as a school Chromebook, were located in a purse in the car.

A witness said she saw Kostak, 31, walk across the street from the True Value hardware store and get into the SUV. She described him as 6-foot tall, in his 30s, wearing a dark-colored sweatshirt with a stripe across the chest and jeans, and carrying a Turkey Hill cup.

At around 10 p.m., police received a call from a woman who said that she located the vehicle parked near her residence in the area of East Garibaldi Avenue.

The woman said she saw a man matching Kostak’s description walking away from the area in a red/orange color jacket/shirt.

The vehicle was found parked in front of a vacant house near East Garibaldi Avenue. The keys were on the driver side floor and nothing was stolen.

On Sunday, police obtained a surveillance photo from the Turkey Hill in Nesquehoning. Surveillance video from True Value showed a man walk out of the backyard of a home on Rhume Street and walk down Willow Street, before crossing over Mermon Avenue. He entered the driver’s seat of the vehicle and drove away.

Kostak lives at the home on Rhume Street, and was identified as the man on the Turkey Hill surveillance video.

Police interviewed Kostak at a home in the 100 block of West Diaz Street in Nesquehoning. He said he entered the victim’s vehicle and drove it to Jim Thorpe before parking it on East Garibaldi Street.

Kostak said that he did not know why he stole the vehicle, and that it was “stupid.”

Kostak faces charges of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, and unauthorized use of motor/other vehicles.

He is free in lieu of $5,000 unsecured bail, and scheduled to have a preliminary hearing Feb. 9 before District Judge Casimir T. Kosciolek of Lansford.