An Ironton man was arraigned yesterday in Ironton Municipal Court on charges stemming from a string of recent soft drink machine break-ins.

Scott Christian, 24, of 1527 1/2 S. Fourth Street, is charged with seven counts of tampering with a coin machine and one count of possession of criminal tools.

Christian was stopped for a traffic violation and charged with driving without a license last week. At that time, police

searched Christian's car and allegedly found crowbars, pry bars and a grinder as well as other items.

This information was passed on to detectives, who later charged Christian in connection with two incidents involving the

vending machines at Save-A-Lot, two incidents involving the machines at Big Lots, two incidents involving the machines at Bartram's grocery and one incident involving the machines at the BP gas station on Liberty Avenue.

Christian will appear in municipal court Feb. 5 for a preliminary hearing on both the DUS charge and the charges related to the soft drink machines.