|
A man robbed two pharmacies within 20 minutes of each other this morning, and the same suspect robbed three others in the past month in San Joaquin County.
Two Tracy pharmacies were robbed at gunpoint between 9 and
10 this morning by a man suspected of stealing high-strength prescription
painkillers from at least six or seven pharmacies throughout San Joaquin County since
late last month.
The man, a tall, thin white man in his 20s with some facial
hair, was recorded on surveillance cameras at Longs Drugs, Walgreens, Rite Aid,
Safeway and other pharmacies in Escalon, Tracy and Stockton since July 26,
police said.
Up until today, when he wore all black and dark gloves, he
had worn a white shirt and a white hat during the robberies.
Abala and Walgreens pharmacies were both robbed of OxyContin
within 20 minutes of each other this morning.
“I’m still shaking,” said Shiryln Abala, the owner of the
independent pharmacy across from Sutter Tracy Community Hospital that got
robbed of two types of painkillers today.
The suspect, she said, came up to the employee door on the
side of the counter and demanded to be let in. Abala and her two employees were
on the phone or filling prescriptions, she said.
“I wasn’t paying attention at first, I thought it was just
another customer,” Abala said, “so when he appeared (by the counter door), I
was surprised.”
When she opened the chest-high door, she saw his handgun. He
then demanded she show him where she keeps the OxyContin.
She took him to the back, pointed to the 80-milligram drug
he asked for — the strongest dose on the market — and he scooped up as much as
he could into his backpack, she said.
Then he turned to her and asked where she kept the Norco — a
lower-dose painkiller that shares a similar chemical makeup to OxyContin.
By the time he left, he’d stolen “quite a lot” of the two
drugs, Abala said. She’s still unsure how much money the robberies will cost
her.
“It’s just lost,” she said, still on edge hours after the
hold-up.
It was the second time her pharmacy was targeted in a
gunpoint robbery, she said.
The alleged bandit who hit up Abala’s store kicked off the
robbery spree at Longs Drugs on Tracy Boulevard late last month, holding up a pharmacist at
gunpoint and making off with about 2,000 pills, according to police.
At another pharmacy in Escalon, he shot at an employee and
stole $3,000 in cash in addition to the stolen opiates, police said.
Today, various cities’ police departments and the sheriff’s
office are searching for the suspect.
“It appears that as he’s going on with these robberies that
these situations are getting more and more dangerous,” said Deputy Les Garcia
of the sheriff’s department. “It’s very important that we get this suspect off
the street.”
The public is encouraged to call Tracy Crimestoppers with
any information at 831-6847, or the Tracy Police Department at 831-4550.
• To reach a Tracy
Press reporter or editor, call 835-3030 or e-mail
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Shady doctors regularly let these prescriptions out without a real medical need, knowingly allowing them to be sold on the street.
The drug companies would never pull in enough revenue with the drugd being a class IV controlled substances in the U.S. and Europe. Why not let them out to be sold in mass.
Pax to all.