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Newest robbery target: pharmacy

Numbers are hard to come by, but authorities say there's a trend toward stealing prescription drugs.

By JOSE CARDENAS
Published November 7, 2005

Once asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton said "because that's where the money is."

Over the last five years or so, another brand of criminal has burst on the scene: the pharmacy thief. And why pharmacies? Because that's where the drugs are.

Around Tampa Bay, the theft of drugs such as OxyContin appears to be on the rise, law enforcement officials say. The evidence is anecdotal, but the trend seems clear.

In Pinellas County, the Sheriff's Office has investigated seven such robberies this year.

"There has been an increase, absolutely," said sheriff's Cpl. Paul Martin.

Consider this: In recent months, a CVS pharmacy on U.S. 19 N in Palm Harbor has been hit twice. The first time was by a young man in July. The second time was Sept. 13 by two men with pistols.

The robber from July also is suspected of walking into a CVS pharmacy in Dunedin on Oct. 23 and getting away with an undisclosed amount of OxyContin after threatening an employee with a large kitchen knife.

This week, RxPatrol - a Connecticut-based security program formed to address a growing concern among pharmacies - announced a $1,000 reward in three open cases in Pinellas.

Some suspects have been caught. One was charged with hitting drugstores in two counties. Another was arrested after claiming to have a bomb and forcing a Walgreens pharmacist to give her drugs, authorities said. Last month, two would-be robbers were arrested outside a Winn-Dixie after handing over a note demanding "all type II substances in full bottles."

But not all of the thefts are robberies.

In eastern Hillsborough County, sheriff's Detective Frank Harned said he has noticed six after-hours burglaries of pharmacies since April. Last month, Ronald Patient, 40, and Leo Carl Behrens, 25, were charged with stealing more than $20,000 worth of OxyContin and oxycodone from Better Health Pharmacy in Brandon.

"I don't recall really any (before April) and it sort of seemed to start happening," Harned said.

And in Pasco, the thefts have taken still another form.

In the past three years, Pasco County sheriff's Detective William Davis said he has seen an increase in "doctor hopping," or getting repeated prescriptions from different doctors.

Hard numbers are difficult to come by, but Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn., formed RxPatrol two years ago to collect reports of robberies and burglaries. Purdue Pharma makes OxyContin, the commercial form of the opiate-based painkiller oxycodone, one of the most powerful and addictive painkillers known.

RxPatrol is a database to which law enforcement agencies and businesses can submit reports online about pharmacy theft. The information allows them to see images of suspected thieves as well as notice trends to improve security.

The program has received about 1,500 reports, said Aaron Graham, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI agent who is now the chief security officer for Purdue Pharma. And those are only from pharmacists and law enforcement agencies, such as the Pinellas Sheriff's Office, that know about RxPatrol.

Drug addicts and dealers began robbing pharmacies because those stores tend to have lower security, Graham said. And instead of stealing money for drugs, Graham said the thieves realized they could steal the drugs directly from the pharmacies.

The hot spots for robberies and burglaries right now include Ohio and Massachusetts, but Florida is in the top five states, said Richard Conklin, a captain in the Stamford, Conn., police department who also runs RxPatrol.

In Florida, doctor-hopping, pharmacy robberies and prescription fraud are prevalent, particularly in the theft of OxyContin, according to the DEA.

RxPatrol's data records "where it's happening, how it's happening, trends and allows Capt. Conklin to send out alerts in the affected areas," Graham said.

The current trends include thieves in Pennsylvania who break into buildings next to pharmacies, Conklin said. Then they break into the pharmacies through a wall, avoiding the alarm. To combat that, pharmacies should install motion detectors, Conklin said.

RxPatrol has also spotted other methods and trends:

-- In Philadelphia, a robber posed as a repairman to gain access to the area containing the drugs.

-- Other thieves activate alarms, then retreat from the buildings. They watch police check out the place and find no one there. Then they assume, sometimes correctly, that the pharmacist might think it's a false alarm and decide not to come to the store to re-activate the system.

-- And some burglars hide in the stores until after they close.

For that reason, Graham said RxPatrol is advising pharmacists to sweep their stores for people after closing time.

"Burglaries are when they really run up the score," Conklin said. He said thieves can walk away with tens of thousands of dollars in pills they can sell on the street for $40 to $60 each.

The average pharmacy robber or burglar is a white male in his late 20s working alone, Graham said.

In Pinellas County, Martin said most of the pharmacies that have been robbed have upgraded their security.

How so?

"I'm not going to tell you,' said Martin.

No need to tip off an already creative brand of criminal.

--Jose Cardenas can be reached at jcardenas@sptimes.com or 727 445-4224.

[Last modified November 7, 2005, 01:09:07]