FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Detectives have made a major break in an investigation into a ring of violent criminals that have been pulling off armed heists at drug stores.
The robberies occurred at drugstores in Washington and Oregon.
It's a crime trend that the KING 5 Investigators exposed last week after analyzing statistics that show Washington may lead the nation in pharmacy robberies.
Investigators say they were able to identify the man on
a Walgreen's security video who pulls a gun and hops the pharmacy counter at a Bellevue store.
They arrested 33-year-old Derekye Bolar of Federal Way and say he was not only armed but high on crack when he committed up to 17 drugstore hold-ups.
"I've always said the person who commits pharmacy robberies for OxyContin is the most dangerous person you'll come up against," said Seattle robbery detective Mike Magan, who arrested Bolar.
Magan says Bolar's part of an organized ring of robbers that Seattle police and the DEA have been tracking for months.
"He was actually being paid off in crack cocaine to perform the robberies themselves," Magan said.
The ring is after the powerful painkiller OxyContin, which has a street value of up to $8,000 a bottle.
Documents filed in Bolar's case say the crime ring has robbed pharmacies of nearly a half million dollars of the drug. Investigators say Walgreens and Rite Aid, the state’s two bigges
t pharmacy chains, were the ring’s preferred targets.
"You had 24-hour pharmacies which were minimal employees, minimal staffing, fewer customers - they also knew they were extremely soft targets," Magan said.
The KING 5 Investigators analyzed data showing that 70 percent of the state's drug store robberies happen at Walgreens and Rite Aid, even though they make up less than one fifth of pharmacies statewide.
While investigators will not single out any one pharmacy, they do say poor security cameras are a common problem which allowed Bolar to go unidentified through his year-long spree.
"The quality of footage of surveillance tape has not been that good," said Magan.
Investigators hope several recent arrests will curb the skyrocketing numbers of drug store stick-ups driven by the growth of prescription drug abuse.
It's gotten so bad that Seattle pharmacist Mike Donohoe has taken matters into his own hands. He’s armed himself with a gun and has been forced t
o draw it three times now.
"I would use it in an instant," Donohoe said.
