Police Arrest Man Behind 4 Pharmacy Burglaries

A 25-year-old Pennsylvania man was arrested on February 4, 2015, for allegedly burglarizing independent pharmacies in Delaware and Montgomery counties 4 times.

According to the Delaware County Daily Times, Todd James Armstrong was in his parents’ basement when authorities arrested him in connection to the pharmacy burglaries, which took place between January 23, 2015, and January 27, 2015.

Police noticed a distinct pattern among the 4 burglaries. They took place during the early morning hours, the suspect donned a puff jacket and used a hammer or another tool to break the pharmacy doors, and the actual crime typically took less than 4 minutes to carry out, Delaware County Daily Times reported.

Police first observed Armstrong parked in a car near a pharmacy on February 3, 2015, around 4:30 a.m. They conducted a traffic stop just as Armstrong, who was wearing clothes similar to the ones seen in the surveillance tapes, left the parking lot.

Armstrong said he had been lost trying to get to his job in Philadelphia and started to speak in incomplete sentences when police questioned him. He refused to consent to a pat down search of him and his vehicle. He also did not let officers look at his phone, the Delaware County Daily Times reported.

The next day, police drove by Armstrong’s home and determined that he had no “legitimate reason” to be by the pharmacy around 4:30 a.m., because it was not located near Armstrong’s route to work.

After obtaining a search warrant, police found clothing, a black facemask, and gloves that matched the surveillance footage, plus a hammer, wire cutters, headlamps, and an orange Home Depot bag that the suspect allegedly used during the burglaries. Police also found several pills, including triazolam, tramadol, Latuda, and haloperidol, according to the Delaware County Daily Times.

Armstrong provided police with a written confession to the burglaries. He also told authorities that he used oxycodone, Percocet, Klonopin, Xanax, Suboxone, and marijuana, and that he had had a drug problem since age 17. He also admitted to selling some pills for cash.

Armstrong is currently being kept at Delaware County prison as he awaits his preliminary arraignment, the Delaware County Daily Times reported.