Ludlow latest in string of pharmacy stick-ups

LUDLOW — A man police believe is connected to a rash of pharmacy robberies made off with as much as $5,000 in prescription painkillers Thursday afternoon.

Around 2:30 p.m., a man entered the Rite Aid pharmacy at 215 Main St. and passed a note to a clerk demanding some prescription medication, said Ludlow Police Chief Jeff Billings.

Billings said the man's note told the clerk to keep quiet and during the robbery the man — either verbally or in his note — indicated he was armed. The robber fled the store with two bottles of OxyContin, totaling more than 100 pills, Billings said.

Police do not know if he fled the scene on foot, drove away or was driven away by an accomplice, Billings said. Within minutes, state troopers were combing the back roads of Ludlow looking for the robber, described as a white male in his early 20s with a dark complexion, wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and dark pants, Billings said.

"It's our belief it's related to the other pharmacy robberies," Billings said, noting recent robberies in Rutland, Windsor and Whitehall, N.Y., since New Year's Eve

Police have said in each case — with the exception of the Rutland robbery on New Year's Eve — the robber has demanded OxyContin or oxycodone, a prescription drug that when misused can produce a heroin-like high.

Rutland City police have declined to disclose what the robber of the Rutland Rite Aid stole.

Descriptions of the suspects have varied from robbery to robbery. In Rutland, the robber is described as a man in his mid-20s, 5 feet 9 inches tall with a big nose and dark hair. In the Whitehall and West Rutland robberies, the robber was described as a man between 5 feet 11 inches and 6 feet 3 inches tall with dirty blond or brown hair.

Thursday afternoon, police questioned a suspect matching the description of the Ludlow robber just down the street from the pharmacy, but police quickly eliminated him as a suspect, Billings said.

Billings said he did not know the retail value of the medication stolen Thursday, but said he had heard of people paying as much as $50 per pill, depending on its potency.

RxPatrol-Crime Stoppers and the National Community Pharmacists Association are offering a $1,000 reward for the arrest of the robber.

Tips can be made by calling (888) 479-8477 or by calling state police at 773-9101, Rutland City police at 773-1816 or Ludlow police at 228-4411.