The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania has announced that Tyla Griffin, a 36-year-old resident of Phoenix, Arizona, has been sentenced to 92 months in prison. This sentence is followed by five years of supervised release due to her involvement in conspiring to distribute and distributing fentanyl.
Acting United States Attorney John C. Gurganus detailed that Griffin moved from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to Phoenix, Arizona around January 2020. In Arizona, she and co-conspirator Davon Beckford established connections with a source supplying fentanyl pills. Together, they conspired to sell these pills to drug dealers they previously knew in Luzerne County. Griffin distributed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills through the U.S. Postal Service from Arizona to her associates in Pennsylvania.
Griffin was indicted by a grand jury in Scranton on February 15, 2022. She appeared in federal court on February 28, 2023, where she pleaded guilty to her role in the conspiracy. Her co-conspirator Beckford received a sentence of 240 months on January 24, 2025, after pleading guilty to distribution resulting in death.
The case was investigated jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Scranton and the Wilkes-Barre Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Olshefski prosecuted the case.
This prosecution is part of a district-wide initiative aimed at combating the nationwide heroin and fentanyl epidemic. The initiative is led by the United States Attorney’s Office as part of coordinated efforts among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies targeting heroin traffickers within the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Additionally, this case is aligned with Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which aims to reduce violent crime and gun violence while fostering safer communities through collaboration between law enforcement and community organizations.