‘Leader’ in case of pharmacy burglaries case to plead Thursday

The man police say led a conspiracy to burglarize numerous pharmacies across the Southeast, including Stephanie’s Down Home Pharmacy in Corbin in 2014, and Sav-Rite Pharmacy in 2015, is scheduled to be rearraigned Thursday in federal court.

Robert Nunley of Tracy City, Tennessee, is one of eight co-defendants facing charges of conspiring to distribute controlled subtances and entering or aiding and abetting in the entry of the pharmacies with the intent to steal any material or compound containing a quantity of controlled substance.

The initial indictment was returned in August 2016 naming Nunley as the sole defendant.

A superseding indictment was handed down on Dec. 15, 2016 naming co-defendants Christopher Land, Anthony Bosio, Kenneth Britton, Randy Stiefel and Jamie Sweeton.

A second superseding indictment was handed down on Nov. 9, 2017, naming James Ronald Jones and Tony Britton as additional co-defendants.

Bosio was the first to enter a guilty plea, admitting during his rearraignment in February to selling some of the stolen pills, and sharing the proceeds of such sales with his co-conspirators.

Kenneth Britton pleaded guilty to his part in the conspiracy at a rearraignment hearing on March 9.

Britton told U.S. Magistrate Judge Hanly A. Ingram that he would drive the trail car during the burglaries, explaining that it was his job to be looking out for the police.

Land is scheduled to be arraigned today.

According to area police, video surveillance from each pharmacy shows the masked men popping the lock on the front door to gain entry to the building.

Once inside, the burglars swept the drugs off of the shelves and into large storage tubs.

The investigation into each burglary had gone cold until mid 2016, when U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials contacted Corbin Police after developing a case connecting Nunley to the burglaries.

“Pill bottles taken during the burglaries at Stephanie’s had been found at Nunley’s home when the DEA searched it,” said Corbin Police Chief Rusty Hedrick, who was the detective working the Sav-Rite burglary.

At the time the initial indictment was returned, Nunley was incarcerated in the Lincoln County, Tennessee jail on charges stemming from a 2012 burglary at a pharmacy in Shelbyville, Tennessee.

“They went in and popped the lock and left with quite a few pills, Shelbyville Police Lt. Brian Crews told The Herald newspaper in Grundy County, Tennessee at the time of the burglary.

Crews said law enforcement believes Nunley is part of a group responsible for a number of pharmacy burglaries throughout the Southeast.