A Nanticoke man accused of a violent crime spree that included robberies and shooting at state police during a high-speed chase was hit today with more charges alleging he and three others tied up and robbed an elderly Bear Creek couple early last year.
William Albert Gronosky, 30, of Nanticoke, has been jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility since last April on charges connected to several armed robberies, shooting at police during a high-speed chase and a break-in at a state trooper’s home.
Now he is facing additional felony charges including burglary, felony conspiracy, aggravated assault and theft in connection with a home-invasion robbery in Bear Creek on April 7, 2012.
According to an affidavit state police filed in court, it was about 12:30 a.m. when three men showed up at 270 Pittston Blvd., the home of Patricia Ann Gryskevicz and Bernard John Gryskevicz. The men kicked the back door open and confronted Patricia Gryskevicz at the bottom of a staircase, police said.
The suspects pulled a gun on her and forced her on to a couch, where they bound her hands with a telephone cord ripped from the wall and her feet with a length of cord from a vacuum cleaner before putting a blanket over her head, police said.
Bernard Gryskevicz came out of a bathroom to find the men in his living room. They forced him on the couch, tied him up and put a blanket over his head, the affidavit says.
The intruders proceeded to ransack the house, stealing six rifles, two diamond rings and $390 in cash from Patricia Gryskevicz’s purse, police said.
During the robbery, Patricia Gryskevicz reported she heard three or four men talking, including one who told her, “Mr. Green is going to kill you if you don’t shut up,” according to the affidavit. Another man was referenced as “Mr. Blue,” she told police.
They also took the keys to the couple’s Nissan Frontier, which they stole when they fled the scene, police said.
Patricia Gryskevicz was able to free herself and walk about a quarter mile to the Casino Motel to call for help, the affidavit says.
Three days after the robbery, a confidential informant contacted troopers to say Gronosky and three others — Nathaniel L. Vestal, 39, of Wilkes-Barre; Charles R. Conden, 46, of Hanover Township; and Wesley Steven Hendricks, 51, of Wilkes-Barre — had talked about robbing the Gryskevicz residence, according to the affidavit.
The source told troopers details of the crime only someone involved would have known and described that the robbers wore masks on their faces to conceal their identities, troopers said.
The source also told troopers the men used code names in the robbery — Conden was “Mr. Green,” Gronosky was “Mr. Black,” and Vestal was “Mr. Blue.”
The source also told troopers that the group had been drinking before the crime and had planned to steal liquor as well, but forgot. Gronosky and Conden were upset about news coverage of the robbery, the source told troopers, because it went down differently than how it was reported on the news.
Gronosky was arrested several days after the home invasion, on April 15, 2012, on charges of shooting at a state trooper and leading police on a high-speed chase.
He was soon charged with robbing a disabled man inside his Hanover Township home at gunpoint, beating and robbing the owner of the Carousel Lounge in Plymouth Township and stealing cash, jewelry, electronics and a handgun from the state trooper’s Laflin home before using it to fire a dozen shots at Wilkes-Barre police during the 20-mile police chase that he escaped.
After he was jailed, state police interviewed Gronosky and he admitted to knowing about the Bear Creek robbery, saying he didn’t give the go-ahead for the job but that he “let it go” when his accomplices came back with guns and about $5,000 in cash, according to the affidavit.
He admitted to getting about $1,000 for the job, police said.
State police have warrants for the arrest of Conden, Vestal and Hendricks on charges including burglary, felony conspiracy and robbery.
Magisterial District Judge Michael G. Dotzel arraigned Gronosky this morning and increased his bail, previously set at $1.4 million, by $50,000.
A preliminary hearing is set for May 22 at 1 p.m.
jhalpin@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2058