Alleged Whitpain Tavern Robber, a Hazleton Man, Heads to Trial

Tyrice E. “Reek” Griffin, 41, of Hazleton, will soon begin his trial in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas on numerous criminal offenses, including felony robbery, theft and aggravated assault, per The Times Herald.
On Tuesday, District Judge Robert Sobeck in Blue Bell held all charges against Griffin for his alleged role in the Nov. 4 armed robbery of Whitpain Tavern on DeKalb Pike, according to court records. 
Griffin is charged with eight counts each of robbery, aggravated assault, theft, receiving stolen property, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, false imprisonment, conspiracy, possessing an instrument of crime and fleeing or attempting to elude police, according to court records.
Griffin's alleged co-conspirator Juan Carlos Garcia, 20, of Hazleton, will have his preliminary hearing Jan. 13 before Sobeck. According to the article, Garcia is in custody in a Luzerne County jail.
Police said both were the two masked men who allegedly robbed the cash register, tavern safe, and jewelry, cash and cell phones from employees and customers at the tavern shortly before 1:30 a.m., before allegedly stealing a patron's Mustang and fleeing the scene. The duo then crashed the car into a fence at Montgomery County Community College before escaping and eluding police.
Whitpain Township Police chased the stolen red Mustang down DeKalb Pike, until the car went over the curb, up over an embankment and over concrete parking blocks and landed at the college, police said.
The car was found in a small wooded marsh northeast of the college's Art Barn. A black ski mask was found on the ground outside the driver's door, police said.
An investigation revealed that, at some point, Garcia and Griffin allegedly split up, with Garcia getting behind the wheel of a Mazda 626 and Griffin driving the Mustang. Police said the safe was transferred from the Mustang to the Mazda, and the duo allegedly separated.
Police said Griffin allegedly fled the scene of the Montgomery County Community College crash to Philadelphia. Garcia, police said, allegedly fled undetected to North Wales Borough.
Garcia then stopped outside a North Wales home, with the safe, and hid inside the Mazda until he was picked up by two individuals from Hazleton, PA, police said.
The three then picked up Griffin in Philadelphia, police said, before heading to Hazleton.
The Mazda was recovered in North Wales Nov. 4, police said.