NEWPORT, Maine — Police are searching for a man who robbed a Rite Aid pharmacy on Thursday evening.
The pharmacy located on the corner of Main Street and Moosehead Trail was robbed at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Newport Police Chief Leonard Macdaid said.
“The suspect took off on foot with an undisclosed amount of drugs,” Macdaid said Friday morning.
Police are still investigating, he said. He wouldn’t release any other details.
Macdaid was unavailable for further comment late Friday afternoon.
It’s the second pharmacy robbery in as many days. A Rite Aid pharmacy on U.S. Route 1 in Bucksport was robbed of an undisclosed amount of prescription drugs on Wednesday evening. That suspect is also still at large.
There have been nearly 40 pharmacy robberies in Maine already this year, compared with just 28 robberies in all of 2011. About half of the pharmacy robberies in Maine this year have been at Rite Aids, according to year-to-date data collected at the end of May.
The Newport robber is described as a white male wearing a black hat, sunglasses, tan pants and a black jacket. Anyone with information should call the Newport Police Department at 368-3263.
Another Rite-Aide robbed – when are they going to realize that something needs to be done here! I will not step foot in another Rite-Aid or Walgreens until they have security or something in place. I am not taking any chances!!
Rite Aid has security but they cut back on it, Walgreens has security but they are hardly in the building.
If Rite Aid was smart they would not cut further on it and actually add to it. They have to take in the amount of money they loose to these robberies, not just in perscriptions but in people who need to come in after work, etc and purchase something else. People are not going to want to go in for a free flu shot anymore. If they keep this up, they are going to end up shutting some of their places down to save money they keep loosing. They might not be a very busy place, but they are going to loose repeat customers. People are going to transfer their meds elsewheres too.
maybe some sort of tax write off for Rite Aid…Robber for Hire….clearly something is going on here…..maybe insiders “allowing” the robbing…
Rite Aid has a policy to just hand over the drugs no questions asked… until some other policy is set in place OR until there is a way to track these drugs being taken, I don’t see it necessarily changing; unfortunately people are getting more brazen and/or more desperate and willing to take the chance.
Sara, maybe you shouldn’t publicly talk about that Rite Aid policy?? Bad enough that I hear BDN mentioned it at least once … let’s not tell the robbers this. My girlfriend works at one of these locations, we’re both already pretty worried, I don’t want anything to encourage more of these! People should think before they speak …
Sorry radiandave – I was under the impression that the policy was “public knowledge” as it has been addressed in various other articles. I pray that your girlfriend stays safe until the cops (and/or Rite Aid)) can get this all figured out…
Sara, I appreciate it. Not sure if it’s a public policy or not, I tend to think not but it got “leaked” somewhere. I assume every company follows this, really, as they’re more worried about their liability should an employee try to be a hero, but again, the less people that know, the better.
Here’s a policy:
Robber: “I have a gun and I want all the Oxy you got”
(Pharmacist reaches under counter pulls out shot gun)
“My gun is in my hands loaded, yours is not, is there life after death? Move your hand and find out…and don’t run, the cashier up front, got a gun too, and smile you are on candid camera”
That’s one way to do it! I would suggest somehow coming up with better security -we certainly do not need Rite Aid closing its’ stores and putting more people out of work. Others in the past have suggested bullet proof glass surrounding the pharmacy, but that wouldn’t do any good to any other customers or workers in the store. But, something definitely has to be done!
Something has to be done, all pharmacies who have not seen much of this or not at all need to be proactive as they could be next, especially if Rite Aid does the right thing and steps up their security. This is like the days of gas stations robbed at 1am and a gun actually showing, not many people are willing to return to work after that, some do, some don’t and for Rite Aid workers they probably wake up and walk in the door to start work and think “Is our store next?” What a crappy way to go to work. Nothing from anyone at a Rite Aid corporate office on what they are going to do to make employees feel safe
the pharmacies don’t loose a red penny during these robberies as all RX drugs are insured for against robberies, fires, floods etc… if they weren’t insured i’d bet my years salary that they would have invested in armed security and better video surv…. now with that said, theres no reason these stores can’t install bullet proof glass at the front of the store as 95% of these stores has a 2 door entrance set up ( as in you walk through the first door to get inside, then through the next dooe to actually enter the building, now after the person robs the store, they go out the first door which locks them in at the front between the 2 doors????
They will loose their business in repeat customers, there is going to be a point where people are going to think that one of these robberies may get out of hand and don’t want to chance being around. Robbers are getting bold, 5:30 when there is still daylight? People used to commit robberies near closing time late at night, in the middle of the night even when everyone is asleep and it is easier to hear a cop late at night with their sirens to tell how far they are. I would think at some point no matter how good insurance may be or whatever is in place to not make them loose a penny in Rx costs with these robberies that someone is paying for it, may it be the store in the form of a higher premium because they lack a good security system?
If there was a place I went to a lot or at all, that got robbed frequently or their chain got robbed frequently and it is obvious they have a terrible security system, I wouldn’t be a customer, and I am sure I would not be the only one.
Every time that I have walked into either one of these chains, I have yet to see any security guard in the building.
They do not have uniforms, so its hard to distinguish who is who in the stores. Like rite aid on union and third in Bangor he walks around, pretty nice guy until you shoplift. He is either watching cameras or walking around. When you see a guy poofing his around a shelf usually you know its a security guard
I’d bet my house that when some security person shoots and kills one of the pharmacy bandits there will be some sort of public outcry against the murder of some poor drug addict. Just wait and see.
You’re probably right! It’s always a loose loose situation…
What the heck is going on here? Where is the law enforcement? I mean its obvious what the targets are, do something about it!
In this case it’s Newport, small town, this guy probably drove by the police station saw the lone officer and cruiser in the parking lot, robbed the pharmacy and was gone by the time the cops was able to get there. He probably knew where the cop was before he took action.
I live in Newport and I will have you know we have TWO cruisers!
Good day sir! :)
Two police cruisers, one traffic light, and easy I95 access!!! But Newport also does have a high presence of other police enforcement like state troopers and sheriffs. The Newport businesses in the triangle are the end of Penobscot county and beginning of Somerset! Many times you will see the sheriffs, local cops, and state police at Tim Hortons which is right across from the Rite Aide!
Next time I’m at a Rite Aid and someone enters the building wearing a jacket, sunglasses, and wool cap IN AUGUST means I’m dropping everything and walking out.
Can’t say I blame you. Sooner or later one of these robbers is going to become violent.
“Excuse me, do you plan on robbing theis place? If so I dropped a bunch of crap in ailse 4, try not to trip over them because when you are done and gone, I am going to come back and finish my shopping…thanks!”
Maybe he’d just bring out the basket to you and say here its on me!
I’ll hide around the corner and nail the robber so hard with a hand basket he’ll wish he’d been punched by Tim Silva. Quick! go get your camera phone!
Looks like Bam Margera
Nope he was with me last night! ;-)
It was Jimmy!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T7eQYMyfmQ
It’s about time the pharmacies had fulltime security isn’t it. Maybe the pharmaceutical companies could kick in a little cash considering their large profit margins on these highly addictive drugs.
I would think Pharmacy stores would have more cameras at the check out , (for example like the bank drive up windows ). then perhaps would get a better view of each person buying medicine. what we have seen mostly are photos a long distance away and unable to get a clear picture of the robber.
They should be using the Allen Funt production crew. Remember the Candid Camera Show? Those guys will get a 7k mega pixel photo from 2 miles away. LOL
What you may see happening, as I have heard of in other states, is that these drugs that the reason that these pharmacies are being robbed for will no longer be kept in stores. if you geta prescription for these drugs you will have to wait a day or 2 while they are “ordered” as they will be kept in warehouses and out of stores. If the drugs are no longer kept in the pharmacies then there will be no reason to rob them. Its not like these pharmacies are being robbed for ALL the drugs they carry, just the pills that get you high, Percosets, Vicodins, Oxy’s etc. there are already some pharmacies that won’t carry them.
that is true and they have a large sign that tells you that. what a shame.and some people shock me when they ask why i have cwp duhh not safe even in wallmart with these fruitcakes running around
i bet it is a employee
With today’s technology there is no excuse why pharmacies do not have decoy pills like banks have exploding dye packs. Can you imagine a pill that looks exactly like a Vicodin but is actually a high dose of Niacin? Yup. Robbers would goto ER not know what the heck is going on.
Hello? Scientists? This is a HINT!!
That would work fine and well if the one taking the pills were the ones digesting the pills, or if they would easily give up the name of who they got the pill from. Other suggestions have been a tracking device on the pill bottle.
They need to make Ex Lax look like Vicodin :) Wouldn’t that be funny
Oxy look alikes = Cayenne Pepper pills. Yeah, put that up your nose! haha
That would teach em!
I need a better surveillance photo than this if I’m going to implicate anyone I know that this may look like. There was a video posted on the BDN that showed 3 kids breaking into the Orono Bogwalk that looked like it was shot in HD. I was told that it was with a $300 motion detecting game camera for hunting.
If these pharmacies want to stop getting robbed they need to step their game up as far as security goes. My main concern is for the protection of their employees and then the customers.
The main concern should be for all people…in no specific order…
They should put a tracking device in one of the pills. We can track dogs with a microscopic chip…..Why not track idiots?
Hey, lets have you pick your prescription up at the police station….
This is what it might take. Just keep the narcotics at the cop shop and if you need your script filled you go there and get it. Problem solved!
Wait a minute…even better is have the pharmacy AT the police station.
all these robberies all have to do with a drug addit i would bet my life on it can’t get the right meds from the clinics cutting back on some drugs so when they are out i believe they rob pharmacies