LIVERMORE FALLS — Police and drug agents are investigating the theft of 2,000 narcotic pills from the Rite Aid Pharmacy on Main Street, Livermore Falls police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. said Monday.

The prescription drugs taken in Sunday’s burglary were OxyContin and morphine, he said. Twenty bottles containing about 100 pills each were stolen from the pharmacy’s storage drawers. Some of the storage drawers had not been gone through, he said.

The door leading into the pharmacy inside the store had been locked, Steward said, but it wasn’t clear if the narcotic storage area was also locked.

It is the third time the store has been broken into in six years netting thieves more than 12,000 pills of prescription drugs in the combined cases. In August 2004 more than 5,000 pills were taken and in January 2009, another 5,000-plus prescription pills were stolen.

Each time the building is entered and drugs are stolen within minutes, and suspects flee the scene before police arrive.

The retail value of the heist was $5,600 but the street value would be a lot higher, Steward said.

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Police, drug agents and the company’s loss prevention representatives are working on the case, Steward said.

Both Livermore Falls and Jay police responded to a burglar alarm at the store at 10:48 p.m. Sunday, he said.

Police checked the outside of the building and the doors were secured, Steward said.

A key-holder was called and manager of the store came down with a key and the store was checked out and the manager did not see anything out of place, Steward said.

When a pharmacist arrived Monday morning, he noticed the pharmacy had been broken into and reported the burglary at 8:09 a.m., he said.

dperry@sunjournal.com


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