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Posted on Thu, Jan 24, 2013 : 5:03 p.m.

Trio facing charges in November break-in at Saline pharmacy

By Kyle Feldscher

This story has been updated to include where the suspects are from.

Three people are accused of breaking into a Saline pharmacy in November and stealing prescription pills, according to court records.

A 21-year-old Belleville man, a 33-year-old Ypsilanti man and a 40-year-old Belleville woman are facing charges of breaking and entering a building with intent to commit a crime, according to warrants filed at the Washtenaw County Trial Court. The three are accused of breaking into Jensen’s Community Pharmacy, 968 E. Michigan Ave., early on Nov. 17.

jensens_pharmacy.jpg

Jensen's Community Pharmacy is at 968 E. Michigan Ave. in Saline.

photo via www.jensenscommunitypharmacy.com

According to a Saline police report, investigators were dispatched to the pharmacy at 2:32 a.m. Nov. 17 after an alarm went off. Police responded to the scene and the suspects had fled, but a window north of the building’s front door was broken.

The report stated there was a shoe print and smudged fingerprints left in the store. Stolen pills included medication for urinary problems, headaches and anxiety. The intruders did not touch cash or Schedule II narcotics in the store.

The day after the break-in, police reviewed security tape from a nearby Ace Hardware store. The video showed a dark Jeep Liberty driving toward the pharmacy just before police were dispatched by the alarm.

Police in Monroe later arrested four people involved in a pharmacy burglary who also were driving a dark Jeep Liberty and notified Saline investigators. According to the report, the four suspects admitted their involvement in the Jensen’s Pharmacy break-in.

Saline police Detective Don Lupi said the four people were believed to be involved in pharmacy break-ins all over southeastern Michigan.

“They’ve been investigated since at least August for cases that are spread all over southeastern Michigan,” Lupi said.

Washtenaw County prosecutors declined to press charges against one of the four people involved in the Jensen’s break-in. Lupi said the warrants in the case were signed on Jan. 15 and processed Thursday by the trial court.

The other three suspects are still at the Monroe County Jail and have not been arraigned in Washtenaw County on their charges.

AnnArbor.com will not publish the names of the accused until they are formally arraigned on the charges related to the Jensen’s Pharmacy incident.


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Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

Comments

An Arborigine

Sat, Jan 26, 2013 : 3:01 a.m.

I imagine that if I had urinary problems, I could suffer from headaches and likely anxiety. But, I'd buy the meds like most people. Maybe there is a big population of people with urinary issues that will buy this stuff on the black market. Heck, they're "job creators", look at what these enterprising individuals have done!

jmac

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 1:23 p.m.

urinary problems? Since when are these meds a hot item on the black market??

Kyle Feldscher

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 6:04 p.m.

I would think dsponini is correct here. Having written about several pharmacy break-ins, it's often a mistake when pills such as these are stolen.

dsponini

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 2:23 p.m.

Grabbed the wrong stuff...in a hurry...

music to my ear

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 1:49 p.m.

since maybe the woman involved or someone she knows has an issue that needs that medication, and they have no insurance ,or they simply grab the wrong bottle

motorcycleminer

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 12:54 a.m.

Dare I ask where they were from ?.....as if you couldn't guess

Cindy Heflin

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 6:19 p.m.

Two of the suspects are from Belleville and one is from Ypsilanti. This information has been added to the article.

Kyle Feldscher

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 6:03 p.m.

tdw- I've posted many, many times when suspects in crimes are from Ann Arbor. Any bias in reporting that you're claiming to observe is simply not there.

tdw

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 5:12 p.m.

Well,Cindy I can only go by my personal observations over the past few years.I've seen it too many times for it to be paranoia.I've on more than one occasion have put A2.com anti Ypsi bias to the test.I have made comments on articles regarding Ann Arbor which were very similar to ones on Ypsi.My comments were verbatim to comments made about Ypsi I just said Ann Arbor instead of Ypsilanti.Not one comment lasted more than 5 minutes before It was a violation.The same comments about Ypsi stood all day.I've done this at least 4 times to make sure I just wasn't being paranoid.You can remove this and not hurt my feelings if you wish

Cindy Heflin

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 4:46 p.m.

We are gathering this information and will add it to the article when we have it. TDW, I assure you the fact it is not here has nothing to do with the cities of residence of the accused.

bobslowson

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 4:38 p.m.

Toledo?

tdw

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 4:16 p.m.

I'm gonna guess Ann Arbor.If they were from Ypsi it would've more than likely been in the headline.If from another area more than likely it would've have been in the article.When people are from Ann Arbor A2.com has a tendency not to add it to the article

Gorc

Fri, Jan 25, 2013 : 11:33 a.m.

Barton Hills?