MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The powerful pull of prescription narcotics is at the heart of a growing crime spree. Murfreesboro detectives are seeing a spike in daring burglaries as thieves are using outrageous tactics to gain access to the addictive pills.
The thieves are after high-dollar pills like codine and oxycotin and there's only one place to get them in large quantities.
"When I built the pharmacy I built it with the expectation of being robbed," said Chad Mills of the Mills Pharmacy in Murfreesboro.
Imagine a business model where you have to anticipate becoming a victim? Mill's said he had no choice.
"All these tablets have to be accounted for, every single one if they come out of that safe," said Mills who keeps them in a two-thousand pound chunk of iron and steel which protects the narcotics.
The safe likely would have deterred a thief who was caught on security camera unsuccessfully trying to break into the Mills' pharmacy a few years ago.
"We see more and more desperate acts of criminals trying to gain access to prescription medication," said Kyle Evans with Murfreesboro Police.
Especially of late.
You name it.
Evans said thieves will try it.
He points to a past case where one actually rammed his truck into a pharmacy looking for pills.
It's lucky no one was inside.
Just this past weekend someone pounded a large hole into the sidewall of the Terrace Pharmacy which the owners quickly repaired.
"This pharmacy has been hit before," said Evans.
Fortunately, alarms kept the the thieves from escaping with any drugs.
In recent days, there was also a robbery attempt at a pharmacy in Smyrna. Mills said word will spread among area pharmacists.
"We do communicate with each other pretty regularly," said Mills.
They do so to share information and warnings to look out for one another.
That seems to be part of the cost these days of doing business if you own a pharmacy.
The DEA now ranks Tennessee among the top five states nationally when it comes to the annual number of pharmacy robberies.
