Village man, 26, accused of another break-in at St. Mary of Snow church
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. » A village man has been accused of cutting the window screens at St. Mary of the Snow church rectory, according to the Saugerties Police Department.
It is the second time that Nathaniel H. Schultz, 26, of 69 Main St., Saugerties, has been arrested in connection with an incident on church grounds.
This time he was charged contempt of a court order, criminal mischief, and criminal trespass, all misdemeanors, police said.
Officers went to 36 Cedar St. on Monday at about 7:54 a.m. after receiving a call to check on a person. A dispatcher reported that a man, wearing only a towel, was sitting on the porch of the rectory at St. Mary of the Snow church, police said.
A police investigation revealed that Schultz had cut three window screens on the rectory’s porch, police said. The investigation also turned up a court order against Schultz preventing him from coming within 500 feet of any property owned to St. Mary of the Snow church.
In May, Schultz was charged with burglary, a felony, and petit larceny, a misdemeanor, in connection with a break-in at the church.
In that case, police said Schultz was captured on video entering the chapel and sacristy of the church rectory, removing his clothing and prostrating himself in front of vestments used during church services. He then opened a bottle of wine he obtained from the sacristy and drank several times from the bottle, police said. At one point, Schultz is seen urinating in a trash can in the sacristy, police said.
Schultz was previously arrested by Saugerties police on April 17 and was charged with burglary after he broke into the Saugerties Reformed Church on John Street in Saugerties.
Those court cases are pending, according to Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra.
Schultz was arraigned this week in the Village of Saugerties Justice Court and was ordered held at Ulster County Jail in lieu of $15,000 cash or $30,000 bond, police said. He is due back in court on Aug. 21, police said.