Burglars raid Williamsburg pharmacy

Two burglars made off with thousands of dollars worth of narcotics after breaking into a Williamsburg pharmacy early Tuesday morning.

Williamsburg Public Affairs Officer Shawn Jackson said burglars broke into Dr. Bernard Moses Office on US25W by going through a side entrance, and used that office to access Drive-In Pharmacy.
Jackson said authorities don’t have a specific amount of drugs taken, but know burglars took an undetermined amount of hydrocodone among other prescription narcotics.

“When the suspects entered the pharmacy, they were familiar with where they were going and went straight to where the narcotics would be located at,” Jackson said.

“They had this well rehearsed or planned. They knew what they were going for and where it was at.”
Jackson said video footage from surveillance cameras narrowed the time frame for the burglary down to between 4:30 and 5 a.m. Tuesday.

“The video surveillance footage is actually being analyzed by Detective Bobby Freeman and Lt. Jason Caddell right now. They are trying to improve the quality of the video and see if they can come up with some more leads,” Jackson said. “The investigation is continuing and we are looking at a couple of possible leads.”

Jackson said authorities believe the two burglars are males both of whom were wearing ski masks.
Jackson said one suspect had a small build and was wearing camouflage clothing. The other had a medium build and was wearing black pants, a hooded sweatshirt and a black ski mask.
A doctor’s office employee reported the burglary when they came to work Tuesday morning and noticed one of the entry doors on the side of the building had been forced open, Jackson said.

“We determined that they used the doctor’s office as strictly an access point to get into the pharmacy,” he noted.

Jackson said that it appears the burglars may have tampered with the phone lines in an effort to disable the alarm.

Last month, Laurel County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Williamsburg pharmacist Gary McPherson on charges of driving under the influence of drugs 1st offense, second-degree trafficking in controlled substance and three counts of third-degree trafficking in controlled substance.

Following a traffic stop, deputies conducted a search of his vehicle, and located a large quantity of pills including Hydrocodone, Xanax, Klonazepam, Tramadol and different types of muscle relaxers.
Jackson said that while McPherson had worked at Drive-In Pharmacy, it appears the two cases are separate incidents.

“There doesn’t appear to be any evidence connecting the two incidents to each other at this time,” Jackson noted.

Anyone, who has any information about the burglary or saw anyone in the area at the time of the burglary matching the suspects’ descriptions, are urged to contact Williamsburg Police Department by calling 549-6017.

“All callers can remain anonymous,” Jackson said.

Chief Wayne Bird and Sgt. Brad Boyd are assisting with the investigation.