ST. GEORGE – A St. George man involved in an armed robbery and several other incidents pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges in 5th District Court Tuesday.
Timothy Cleveland Griffith, 33, appeared in court with attorney Ryan Stout before Judge Eric Ludlow and pleaded guilty to charges stemming from eight separate cases. The earliest case involved reaches back to September 2014.
As a part of a global resolution to Griffith’s eight cases, he pleaded guilty to a single felony charge from each. The cases involve retail theft, receiving stolen property, unlawful possession of another person’s identification, burglary of a dwelling and aggravated robbery.
The aggravated robbery charge was dropped from a first-degree felony to a second-degree felony as a part of a plea deal. Additional charges, along with two cases related to drug possession, were also dropped.
The aggravated robbery is connected to a Nov. 24, 2015, incident in which an employee of the Pizza Hut, at 932 S. Bluff Street in St. George, encountered a masked man with a handgun while in the process of closing the restaurant. The masked man got away with over $500.
Police released surveillance photos of the incident and asked for the public’s help in finding the suspect. However, the case didn’t break until Griffith was pulled over during a traffic stop.
Officers were able to connect Griffith to the Pizza Hut robbery through the tennis shoes he wore – the shoe prints reportedly matched those found at the scene. Police found a bank bag in Griffith’s vehicle matching the one taken during the robbery. A tattoo on his hand was similar to one seen in the surveillance footage.
The traffic stop also connected Griffith to two other cases. Items were found in his vehicle that matched those taken in a residential burglary on Lizzy Lane in St. George. Another case involved the possession of “multiple government identifying documents” found in his wallet, according to court documents.
Deputy Washington County Attorney Rick Erickson said he had spoken to the police detectives and Pizza Hut employee involved in the armed robbery case. He told the court they were agreeable with the first-degree aggravated felony charge being dropped down as a part of the overall plea deal.
Other incidents Griffith pleaded guilty to involved the thefts of electronic tablets from the Wal-Mart in Washington City in 2014 and the theft of an air compressor and tools from the Wal-Mart in St. George in 2015. Another, more recent incident involved the theft and later attempted sale of a go-kart over Craig’s list.
The court ordered a pre-sentencing investigation for the next hearing scheduled for April 11.
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Good ole police work. Lock him up for the trauma he caused to the Pizza Hut worker. It’s terrible getting robbed at work.