AUSTINTOWN — A Youngstown police officer used a high-tech device Tuesday to try to find a wanted man who ran away on Tall Oaks Lane in Austintown, according to a Youngstown police report.

The officer was working as part of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force and was headed to a home on Tall Oaks Lane to find Jerome R. Varga, 46, who lives on the street. Varga was wanted on charges of intimidation, theft from the elderly and four counts of felony theft.

As officers turned onto Tall Oaks Lane, they passed Varga’s girlfriend and Varga in a vehicle. Officers turned around and tried to catch up to Varga. The vehicle he was in pulled onto Black Oaks Lane before pulling abruptly into a driveway. Varga then ran through the rear yards, the report states.

The officer deployed a drone. Once the drone was in the air, Varga walked out from the rear yards where he was hiding and surrendered to officers, the report states. Varga was taken to the Mahoning County jail.

He was indicted in January on felony charges of intimidation and retaliation. Misdemeanor disorderly conduct and was set for a plea in the case Sep. 3, He did not appear for the hearing, so a warrant was issued for him in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Varga was charged in December with intimidation of a police officer and other offenses after Austintown police responded to a 3 a.m. possible crash at his home and found him agitated and arguing with his girlfriend.

A report states Varga’s neighbor confronted him for making so much noise, and Varga allegedly admitted to police that he had grabbed the man by the neck and thrown him when the man stepped onto Varga’s property, according to the report.

The report states Varga told police repeatedly he was going to leave, but police blocked his vehicle in the driveway with a police cruiser to prevent him from driving because he smelled heavily of alcohol.

The report states Varga was combative and vulgar with police, threatening to fight them and shouting obscenities at them. Varga allegedly told one officer that if the officer were not wearing a police uniform, he would beat him up. He also repeatedly threatened to stab his neighbor in the neck.

Varga also has a pending case in common pleas court containing several theft-related charges. A warrant also was issued in that case Sept. 3.