Medication stolen during weekend pharmacy burglary in Cape

A Cape Girardeau pharmacy was robbed of an undetermined amount of prescription pills during a Saturday night break-in, police said Sunday.

An alarm was activated at about 10:15 p.m. at Medicap Pharmacy, 1020 N. Kingshighway, according to the department's Sgt. Adam Glueck. Police arrived shortly after, unsure whether the culprit was still inside the store that has seen several burglaries and burglary attempts this year, including in its Scott County location. The person responsible apparently broke out a window in the front of the drugstore and was gone by the time police arrived, Glueck said.

The owner of the business is checking inventory, Glueck said. No arrests have been made as of yet, he said, but the department will continue to investigate.

Medicap has seen burglaries and attempted burglaries in April and September, as well as others, buffering the notion that the U.S. is seeing an epidemic of such thefts as increasingly desperate addicts are turning to guns. Armed robberies at pharmacies rose 81 percent between 2006 and 2010, from 380 to 686, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says. The number of pills stolen went from 706,000 to 1.3 million. Thieves are overwhelmingly taking oxycodone painkillers like OxyContin or Roxicodone, or hydrocodone-based painkillers like Vicodin and Norco. Both narcotics are highly addictive.

Pertinent address:

1020 N. Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.