By Ruth Longoria
A burglary last week at the Rite Aid pharmacy, in which about $100,000 worth of pharmaceutical drugs were stolen, is believed to be connected to a string of area drug store burglaries, police say.
The burglaries haven’t occurred just at Rite Aid pharmacies; however, that chain seems to have been hit a lot recently, said Mercer Island Det. Pete Erickson.
Though there seems to be an epidemic of recent pharmacy burglaries in the Puget Sound area — including Redmond, Edmonds and Bellingham — there also have been recent Rite Aid burglaries in Oregon, and across the country, even as far as Delaware.
Police believe the local incidents are connected, and possibly related to drug thefts across the country.
“The time frame tells us something, and the recent burglaries all have similar MOs,” Erickson said.
On the evening of Thursday, July 7, someone entered the Island Rite Aid store, at 3023 78th Ave. S.E., prior to closing. The suspect, most likely hid in a storage area of the store and pried the back door to the pharmacy open after the pharmacist left the store. The alarm didn’t go off, or was ignored by the alarm company because it would have sounded within minutes of the manager setting the alarm as he left the building, according to the police report. The alarm company, Sonitrol, told police the alarm was set at 10:24 p.m. by a store employee, or someone using the employee’s code. The alarm was turned off the next morning at 5 a.m. by the store manager.
During the hour between when the pharmacy closes at 9 p.m. and when the store closes at 10 p.m., the suspect placed a lined garbage can in the center section between the shelves of the pharmacy area, and filled the can with drugs. The empty can, minus the liner, was found in that location when a pharmacist returned at about 6 a.m., Friday morning.
About 67 kinds of non-narcotic medications and a half-dozen narcotic drugs, including Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Vicodin, MS Contin, Oxycontin and Methylphenidate, were missing. Most of the drugs were high-end, expensive drugs that could be sold on the street, according to the report.
Pry marks, possibly made by a large screw driver, were found adjacent to the pharmacy rear entry door, which is where police believe the robber entered the area. Fingerprints were lifted from outside the entry door. The suspect apparently left through the stockroom door and forced it shut, causing the bolt on the lock to jam in the side of the second part of the steel door.
Although not necessarily connected to the Island burglary, someone last week used a crow bar to break into a Rite Aid pharmacy in Harrington, Del. The store reported about $20,000 in narcotic drugs were stolen. However, police there said they were unsure of the street value of the drugs. Erickson said that whether or not the crimes are related, there is reason for concern.
“You have to look at the big picture,” he said. “What are they doing with all those drugs?”
