A Luzerne County man has been charged with stealing a vehicle following a traffic stop last Tuesday morning in Lehighton.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by patrolman Jason Pryce of the Lehighton Borough Police Department in the case against Paul Husti-Luca:

At around 5 a.m. Oct. 31, Pryce was dispatched to the area of Third Avenue for a suspicious vehicle with two occupants that was sitting outside of the residence running for about 45 minutes.

Officers arrived and observed a vehicle traveling west on Stedman Avenue. When the occupants saw police in front of them, they stopped the vehicle and shut the headlights off.

Pryce made contact with the driver, Husti-Luca, 37, who provided his information, which police said was a suspended driver’s license.

Pryce got identification from the passenger, Michelle Schaffer, and she came back valid.

Registration of the vehicle was ran, and the vehicle came back stolen out of Hazleton City.

Both occupants were detained. Pryce spoke with a Hazleton officer who said that Husti-Luca is a suspect in their case for stealing the vehicle.

A patrolman with Hazleton said that Husti-Luca was doing work on the victim’s house and her car went missing.

Husti-Luca has been charged with receiving stolen property.

Husti-Luca is incarcerated in the Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $20,000 cash bail, and scheduled to have a preliminary hearing Wednesday before District Judge Eric M. Schrantz of Jim Thorpe.