Orangeburg County officials say someone went to extremes to break into a pharmacy to steal thousands of dollars worth of drugs.
According to the police report, the thief stole several bottles of Oxycontin, Ritalin, Vicodin, Percocet, and Tylox from the Medicine Mart in downtown Orangeburg.
Owner Pat Wooten says someone crawled through his store’s rear wall, after sawing a two by one and a half foot hole in it.
“They had to be small, unless they sent a child in to do it," said Wooten.
Wooten says he arrived at work a few days ago and noticed the refrigerator was pushed away from the wall. When he looked closer, he realized someone sawed a hole into his store.
"It's a bad feeling you just feel like you have been violated, you know when you come in your business and see that somebody's been in here, it's a bad feeling," said Wooten.
Once inside, Wooten says the burglar wiped out two shelves full of class-A narcotics with a total street value of about $3,000.
"They are probably being sold on the street," said Wooten.
Orangeburg police say their investigation is continuing and they have a few promising leads.
Officials say the pharmacy burglary is similar to one that occurred about a month ago in Branchville, but aren’t saying if they believe the two are connected.
"It's definitely scary, because they are more desperate for drugs than they are money so it makes you real cautious and think about a lot," said Wooten.
Wooten says he is beefing up security for his store so something like this can’t happen again.
If you have any information that can help investigators solve this case call Crimestoppers at 1-888-Crime-SC.
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