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HelioMetrics Comment: This story ends up raising a few large questions:
1. Was this man a pharmacy employee?  If not, how did he get access to the controlled drugs?
2. Even if he was or wasn’t a pharmacy employee, how did someone not catch over 2800 pills being taken sooner?

 

CRESTVIEW — A 33-year-old man was arrested after he said he stole nearly 3,000 oxycodone pills from a pharmacy over a period of time and admitted to having a substance abuse problem.

According to an arrest report from the Crestview Police Department, on Feb. 13 the pharmacy manager at the South Ferdon Boulevard store notified the store manager that the controlled substance count was “off.” The manager said he reviewed the store’s surveillance footage and saw the 33-year-old man remove what appeared to be two bottles from the controlled substances cabinet before exiting the store.

A pharmacist identified the substances missing as 200 oxycodone pills valued at $378.96.

Officers spoke with the store’s asset protection associate, who said he spoke with the defendant and received a voluntary statement from him. The man told the associate that he had a substance abuse problem and admitted to having stolen over 2,800 controlled substances “over a period of time.” The associate told police they only had video of the 200 oxycodone pills being stolen.

Police viewed the store’s surveillance footage and confirmed the pharmacy manager’s report.

After detaining the man, he admitted to police that he had a substance abuse problem that began when his roommate introduced him to methamphetamine. He wouldn’t answer questions about whether or not he took any pills “so as not to incriminate himself,” but he confirmed that the statements he provided to the asset protection associate were accurate. He then admitted to stealing medications on different dates.

He also told police the medications he had stolen were for “personal use” and said he injected himself a dozen times a day using approximately 12 pills.

The report did not say how the man had access to the controlled substance cabinet.

He was arrested and charged with theft of a controlled substance, a felony, and transported to the Okaloosa County Jail.