Citizen complaint leads to arrest in Tamaqua

A citizen complaint in May 2018 led to drug charges being filed against a Tamaqua man after borough police received results of tests done by the state police crime lab.

The citizen was in the first block of Pine Street at 11:38 a.m. on May 9 when she saw a man doing drugs on the porch of a vacant building owned by the American Hose Company. Officers found Christopher Serina, 38, of East Broad Street sitting on the porch steps, despite the building’s posted “No Trespassing” signs.

Serina, who had prior drug arrests, admitted having a syringe in his sock. He also had a yellow bag of suspected methamphetamine and two pills, which he said were Percocets.

Drug tests came back positive for the methamphetamine and the two pills were determined to be Oxycodone.

He was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and defiant trespass.