{"id":88899,"date":"2026-01-16T21:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/88899\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:42:11","slug":"4-men-charged-in-alleged-smoke-shop-robberies-in-northampton-lehigh-counties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/88899\/","title":{"rendered":"4 men charged in alleged smoke shop robberies in Northampton, Lehigh counties"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four men have been charged in connection with two separate robberies at smoke shops in Northampton and Lehigh counties, authorities said Friday.<\/p>\n

The co-defendants include 22-year-old Thiago Araujo-Guerrero; 23-year-old Frankell Isabel-Ramirez; 24-year-old Branny De La Cruz-Rodriguez; and 23-year-old Leonardo Henriquez-Diaz, all of Hazleton, Luzerne County. <\/p>\n

A fifth suspect, not identified by authorities, remained on the lam.<\/p>\n

The group is accused of robbing Cherryville Vape and Cigar Shop<\/a>, 4209 Lehigh Drive in Lehigh Township, just after 1:15 a.m. Sept. 10, 2025. Two days later, the same five men are accused of robbing Smoke Mania, <\/a>2733 W. Emmaus Avenue in Allentown, just before 3:40 a.m.<\/p>\n

Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta said that in the Lehigh Township robbery, Araujo-Guerrero, Isabel-Ramirez, De La Cruz-Rodriguez and Henrique-Diaz each is charged with two counts felony robbery, one count felony theft and one count felony receiving stolen property.<\/p>\n

All four co-defendants were scheduled to be arraigned on the charges later Friday before District Judge Robert Hawke, who would set bail and schedule their preliminary hearings.<\/p>\n

In Lehigh County, Araujo-Guerrero, Henriquez Diaz, Isabel-Ramirez and De La Cruz-Rodriguez each is charged with two counts felony robbery, one count felony theft and one count felony receiving stolen property, authorities said. <\/p>\n

De La Cruz-Rodriguez and Isabel-Ramirez additionally are charged with one count felony conspiracy to commit robbery. Isabel-Ramirez also is facing a felony aggravated assault charge.<\/p>\n

All four co-defendants currently were incarcerated at Lehigh County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail following preliminary arraignments on Sept. 17, 2025, in the Allentown case.<\/p>\n

Baratta announced the charges in the Lehigh Township<\/a> case in a news conference Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

No attorney information was immediately listed in court records for De La Cruz-Rodriguez. The Lehigh County Public Defender\u2019s Office, representing Araujo-Guerrero in the Allentown case, couldn\u2019t immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

Allentown-based attorney Sean Thomas Poll, representing Isabel-Ramirez, and Jim Thorpe, Carbon County-based attorney Matthew Joseph Mottola, representing Henriquez Diaz, also couldn\u2019t immediately be reached for comment Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The store clerk at Cherryville Vape and Cigar Shop reported to police being \u201cmenaced and threatened\u201d by four masked gunmen, Baratta said. <\/p>\n

A fifth man, later identified as Henriquez-Diaz, was not wearing a mask and scoped out the scene shortly before the four others entered the shop, the DA said.<\/p>\n

The suspects allegedly destroyed the business\u2019s phone, demanded the clerk\u2019s cellphone and made off with $300 cash and merchandise totaling $2,000. Items stolen included mostly vape and THC products, Baratta said.<\/p>\n

Investigators obtained video surveillance footage of the allegedly robbery and a blue Honda Civic suspected to be involved. Registration of the Honda was tied to the mother of Araujo-Guerrero, court records state.<\/p>\n

Isabel-Ramirez, De La Cruz-Rodriguez and Araujo-Guerrero all brandished suspected firearms during the Lehigh Township robbery, the affidavit of probable cause states. This court record lays out evidence and witness testimony against defendants.<\/p>\n

Two days later, Allentown officers responded to a similar armed robbery at Smoke Mania. That store clerk reported being robbed at gunpoint by four male suspects. <\/p>\n

Video surveillance footage showed the same Honda suspected in the Lehigh Township incident, Baratta said.<\/p>\n

There were no reported injuries in either incident.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania State Police shortly before 10 p.m. September 12, 2025, stopped the suspected Honda in Hazle Township, Luzerne County. Araujo-Guerrero, Isabel-Ramirez, De La Cruz-Rodriguez and Henriquez-Diaz were all in the car, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Troopers obtained a search warrant and recovered BB guns consistent in appearance with the weapons used during the two robberies, Baratta said. <\/p>\n

All four men were then arrested and charged in both cases. <\/p>\n

The fifth suspect is described by authorities as wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt with \u201cUCONN\u201d printed on the front, black sweatpants, black sneakers with white soles and wearing a full face clown mask with orange hair at the time of the Lehigh Township robbery.<\/p>\n

In Northampton County, the next steps will be for all four co-defendants to appear for preliminary hearings. A judge will then determine if there\u2019s sufficient evidence to send their cases toward trial at the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas.<\/p>\n

In Lehigh County, Araujo-Guerrero\u2019s case was forwarded to possible trial at the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas. Both De La Cruz-Rodriguez and Isabel-Ramirez are scheduled for trial in March in Lehigh County Court.<\/p>\n

Henriquez-Diaz is due back in court for a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Jan. 27. A judge will then determine if there\u2019s sufficient evidence to send that case toward trial at the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas.<\/p>\n

\"5thA fifth suspect remains at large in robberies that happened in both Lehigh Township, Northampton County and Allentown, Lehigh County in September 2025. Four other male co-defendants are in custody, authorities said.Courtesy photo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four men have been charged in connection with two separate robberies at smoke shops in Northampton and Lehigh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-88899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}