2 sought in drugstore break-ins
Posted on Friday, July 4, 2008
JONESBORO — Police are searching for two men who they believe broke into several drugstores in northeast Arkansas and Missouri after lawmen obtained surveillance video from a failed break-in this week, authorities said.
The two, who Jonesboro police Detective Mike Branscum said are black men in their 20 s, have smashed front-door windows to gain entry at two Jonesboro drugstores, a Paragould store and a Kennett, Mo., pharmacy since June 21.
The men attempted to break into a pharmacy in southwest Jonesboro on Monday morning, but police thwarted them, Branscum said. Officers chased the men on U. S. 63 and interstates 55 and 40, but gave up pursuit when the burglars crossed the Mississippi River into Memphis.
In each case, surveillance video taken from the stores show the men backing a white Cadillac Seville with Tennessee license plate 550 SSP to the front door. One of the men broke the windows to gain entry, Branscum said.
They stole narcotics, Branscum said.
“They rushed in and got what they were after,” he said. “They were really quick.” On Sunday, police discovered wires to an electrical alarm system at a Parker Road pharmacy in southwest Jonesboro had been cut, Branscum said. Police thought the burglars would attempt to break in there and they patrolled the store that night.
At 1: 30 a. m., two men broke the front-door window of a nearby pharmacy on Southwest Drive.
“They were less than a block from our officers,” Branscum said.
Officers drove to the other pharmacy and spotted the two men, who drove away.
Police gave chase for more than 75 miles before the men crossed into Tennessee.
Branscum said photographs taken from the stores’ cameras clearly show one of the burglars.
“We’re working with the Memphis police on this,” he said. “We have some leads.”
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