AUBURN – Drug agents burst into the Rite Aid on Union Street Wednesday night, closing down the pharmacy and arresting an employee on charges of illegally dealing prescription drugs out of the store.

Investigators said 24-year-old Robert Halcomb Jr. of Sabattus has been peddling the painkiller Vicodin from the pharmacy to people without prescriptions.

“He’s claiming his motive was sympathy for addicts,” said Gerry Baril, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency’s supervisor.

Investigators said a drug addict who used to obtain Vicodin from Halcomb at the pharmacy helped gather information about the drug dealing.

Agents from the MDEA and other departments investigated the case for roughly a week before the Rite Aid was raided Wednesday night.

“We got information that addicts were coming into the store and getting drugs without prescriptions,” Baril said. “They would put an empty drug bottle on the counter and this pharmacist would fill it.”

Halcomb was charged with four counts of aggravated furnishing scheduled drugs. Investigators said he may face federal drug charges as well.

At about 6:15 p.m., Baril, in plain clothes, walked into the store and shopped while engaging Halcomb in a conversation.

When it was clear the suspect posed no immediate threat, other drug investigators as well as an Auburn police officer and an agent from the Maine Violent Crime Task Force burst in.

Rite Aid customers entered and exited the store while Halcomb was questioned near the pharmacy. Metal gates at the pharmacy were quickly lowered two hours before the normal closing time.

“We secured it so the inspectors can audit the medication,” Baril said.

Several customers trying to pick up prescription drugs at the pharmacy were turned away by the store manager, who explained that they were forced to close early.

Other store employees taped signs at the front of the building stating: “Sorry. Pharmacy closed due to an emergency.”

Halcomb was questioned for a half hour before he was handcuffed and led out of the store. The rest of the store continued operating until the normal closing time at 10 p.m.

“We don’t blame Rite Aid for this,” Baril said, as Halcomb was led into a cruiser parked outside the store. “They were very concerned when we told them what was going on. They have been very cooperative.”

A store manager said she could not discuss the arrest. She could not provide information about when the pharmacy might reopen.

A Rite Aid district manager was called to the store later in the night to help store officials deal with the aftermath of the arrest.

According to Baril, inspectors from the State Department of Professional and Financial Regulation would examine the inventory of medication at the Rite Aid. That was expected to last at least into Thursday morning.

Investigators said Halcomb was selling 5 to 7 milligram dosages of Vicodin to customers without prescriptions. It was when one of those customers was taken to the hospital from an overdose that the investigation began.

“It was a near-fatal overdose,” Baril said. “And we were able to work with that recovering addict as part of the investigation.”

Undercover agents or informants made purchases of Vicodin from Halcomb at the Rite Aid Wednesday afternoon, investigators said. Soon after, a plan was made to enter the store and arrest him.

Rite Aid Corp. is one of the nation’s leading drugstore chains, with approximately 3,400 stores around the country.

It wasn’t clear how long Halcomb has been a pharmacist at the Rite Aid. Police said he recently moved to this area from New York where he went to school.

Halcomb was being held on $10,000 cash bail late Wednesday.