A Philadelphia man has been charged with robbing a Tullytown bank.
Matthew T. Girvin, 47, was charged with three felony counts of robbery and misdemeanor terroristic threats and theft Wednesday night. He was arraigned by on-call District Judge Joanne Kline and sent to prison on 10 percent of $50,000 bail.
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Garvin appears to have a criminal past with a conviction for a Northampton retail theft in 2002, a guilty plea for 2005 unauthorized use of a vehicle incident in Doylestown and a 2005 escape charge in Milton, Northumberland County.
Garvin, according to Tullytown police, walked into the Wells Fargo Bank on Levittown Parkway minutes before 3 p.m. Wednesday and demanded money from the teller, who turned over a stack of cash.
Garvin fled the bank on foot threatened to shoot a bank employee who was tracking him and relaying his location to dispatchers, police said. Tullylton police Chief Daniel Doyle later told LevittownNow.com that Garvin’s implication of a weapon was unfounded.
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Officers from Falls, Bristol Borough and Bristol Township assisted Tullytown police in setting up a perimeter as law enforcement officials began their search for the suspect.
Within minutes, Garvin was located hiding with the money behind on the St. Michael the Archangel church and school property, police said.
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According to court documents, Garvin was confined to State Correctional Institution Dallas in Luzerne County as recently as March 2015. The reason for his confinement was not immediately clear.
Tullytown’s three schools were locked down following the robbery as police searched for Garvin.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
