Federal authorities have indicted 42 defendants in what they said is the largest case of pharmacy burglaries in the history of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) operations.
The defendants allegedly conspired to burglarize over 200 pharmacies across 31 states, including 20 in Arkansas, where the investigation began, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas Jonathan Ross said.
During the first phase of the investigation in December 2023, federal officials announced that the burglary ring originated in Houston.
The organized crime ring targeted independent pharmacies, stealing opioid medications such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and other prescription drugs such as Xanax, Adderall, and promethazine with codeine cough syrup, Ross said.
“The perpetrators use the internet to scout out rural pharmacy locations, then travel by rental car or commercial airline from Houston to cities coast to coast, where in the early morning hours they would shatter glass at pharmacy locations, low-crawl on the floor to evade motion detectors, and systematically remove dangerous opioid benzodiazepines, promethazine with codeine and other scheduled medication from the pharmacy shelves,” he said. “As a result, hundreds of thousands of pills and gallons of promethazine cough syrup were returned and distributed on the streets of Houston, Texas.”
The street value of the drugs stolen in total is currently estimated to be $12 million, he said.
In November 2023, Texas law enforcement arrested 18 suspects connected to the case, with an additional 24 charged in July 2023.
“During arrest operations in Houston, law enforcement officials seized 11 firearms, approximately $79,000 in U.S. currency, and custom jewelry retailing at approximately $510,000, which are proceeds from the sale of stolen pharmaceutical drugs,” Ross said.
Complex Investigation
Steven Hofer, the special agent in charge of the DEA’s New Orleans Field Division, said the investigation has spanned three years.“It was complex, and it highlights the great work happening in the DEA across all of our offices in the country, especially right here in Little Rock,” Hofer said.
The DEA has seen an increase in non-chain pharmacy burglaries across the country, Hofer said.
“Last year alone, 900 burglaries were reported,” he said. “As a result, pharmacies lost almost 3.8 million doses of controlled substances. This equates to more than $12 million in profits.”
The burglaries have contributed to drug shortages that have put the citizens’ health at risk, he said.
“Millions of Americans rely on their prescription medications every day, and when those drugs are not available, the well-being of our communities suffer,” he said. “These criminal groups wreak havoc in the local communities to bring easy money into their organizations.”
