Knife, fake bomb used to rob area pharmacy

Less than two hours after a robber used a knife and a fake bomb to obtain a large amount of OxyContin from the Medicap Pharmacy in Scott City, the robber and an accomplice were arrested in Cape Girardeau.

The incident forced the Scott City School District to implement a lockdown for about 90 minutes. No incidents were reported at the school and the lockdown was lifted before the regular release time for middle- and high school students, principal Kerry Thompson said.

During the course of the investigation, Scott City police set up roadblocks around a four-square-block area around the pharmacy at 2220 Main St. The police were aided by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Scott County Sheriff's Department, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Southeast Missouri Regional Bomb Squad.

Six employees were on staff at the pharmacy about 1:15 p.m. when a tall, thin man wearing a sock cap entered the drugstore, showed a knife and put a black duffel bag on the counter, said Nikki Burlison, a store clerk. The man said a bomb was in the bag and demanded OxyContin, a powerful, addictive narcotic.

"Other than carrying the bag, I don't think he looked out of the ordinary," Burlison said.

Pharmacist Amy Thompson filled a bag with bottles of the drug and the man fled, going to a white sedan where another man and a woman were waiting.

Scott City police chief David Leeman said he and other officers were responding to the scene when the woman, who had apparently ordered the men from her car, arrived at the Scott City police station.

The woman told officers the men had asked her for a ride to get a prescription filled. She claimed not to know what was in the bag nor that they planned to rob the pharmacy.

While the woman was being interviewed by a highway patrol trooper, she received a call from one of the men on her cell phone, Leeman said. "They called her phone and said they stole a pickup truck in Scott City and they were headed north on I-55 and wanted her to meet them," he said.

Set up a meeting

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter, a deputy and two patrol troopers set up a meeting at the Super 8 Motel at 2011 N. Kingshighway. After contacting the Cape Girardeau police, a trooper rode with the woman in her car while Walter and deputies followed in an unmarked car. "It was a little cloak-and-dagger as we kept stopping to make sure we weren't being followed," Walter said.

With an exact description of the stolen pickup in hand, the two men were arrested at the motel at 3:04 p.m. without incident, Walter said. The drugs were recovered and the men confessed, he said.

The names of both male suspects and the woman are being withheld pending charges, Walter said.

The bomb squad, based in Sikeston, brought a remote-controlled robotic device to the pharmacy to enter the store and retrieve the duffel bag. The suspects said the duffel bag was filled with clothes, with a box of heavy material placed in it to give it heft. After the bag was taken to a safe place and because X-rays were inconclusive, a charge was attached to the duffel bag and it was exploded.

The school lockdown followed standard procedures, Thompson said. He praised the response of staff, students and parents. The lockdown ended at 2:45 p.m., 10 minutes past the normal release time for elementary school students, Thompson said. Middle and high school students were allowed to leave for home at the regular time of 3:05 p.m., he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126