Team of burglars targets pharmacies across city

For more than a year, a team of burglars has been breaking into pharmacies and ATMs across the city, making off with large amounts of cash and prescription drugs, Philadelphia police say.

Now, the department is asking for the public's help in catching the men who have been implicated in seven burglaries and an attempted burglary so far - targeting four pharmacies and four ATMs since March 2014.

Police say the burglary team is made up of three to four men who have struck all over the city - in Kensington, Overbrook Park, Fern Rock, Eastwick, University City, Manayunk, and the Far Northeast.

And though police have recovered surveillance footage of five of the crimes, it's almost impossible to identify any of the burglars from those videos, said Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives.

"They're covered all the way up to their head," complete with masks that obscure almost all of their features, Walker said.

His division made the connection between the incidents after the most recent break-in, a Sept. 14 burglary at the Broad & Grange Pharmacy at 5751 N. Broad St.

Walker said investigators do not believe the men are part of a gang or drug organization.

"This is three to four individuals who came up with a plan and are executing the plan pretty well at this point," he said.

The first incident, a burglary of an ATM in Manayunk, took place March 6, 2014, and for more than a year, the men seemingly lay low.

But on March 25 of this year, they hit two pharmacies within hours of each other, and continued a spree of break-ins throughout the summer.

Each incident bears the same hallmarks, Walker said. The men, "heavily masked," break into pharmacies and ATMs with crowbars or sometimes power tools. In the pharmacies, they move deliberately, searching for specific drugs, Walker said. They communicate with walkie-talkies, and in some cases use a Jeep Cherokee as a getaway car.

The men have largely targeted stand-alone ATMs, Walker said, and have focused on mom-and-pop pharmacies without the kind of security that a chain might have.

In the pharmacy break-ins, the men have made off with significant amounts of drugs, usually opiates such as oxycodone, Walker said. Those drugs sell, quickly, for about $1 per milligram on the street.

"They could be making decent money off them," Walker said. He said investigators are working on tracing the drugs and have partnered with the FBI on the case.

He said investigators are hoping a tip can point them in the right direction.

"We're hoping someone does the right thing. Someone clearly knows who these individuals are - they're coming into a lot of money, they're driving a specific car," he said. "All we're asking for is an anonymous tip so we can stop these individuals from damaging businesses."

Anyone with information on the burglaries is asked to call the department's anonymous tip line at 215-686-TIPS.

awhelan@philly.com 215-854-2961 @aubreyjwhelan