Police dispatch received a phone call from a company that said it was receiving GPS tracking information on the stolen items. The company told police dispatch how fast the vehicle was traveling and on what Middletown streets.
POLICE: Several groups targeting pharmacies in robberies
Police positioned their vehicle in the area of the last known direction provided by GPS tracking, according to the report. Police said they saw a 2004 Pontiac driving toward them on Queen Avenue and there were three men in the vehicle, all wearing dark clothing. The car was stopped and the three occupants were ordered to put their hands in the air and were held at gunpoint until other officers arrived, police said.
Police said they saw “a large amount of prescription medication” lying on the back seat of the vehicle.
After watching the surveillance video at the pharmacy, police determined that two of the people in the vehicle — Yasar Burnett, 18, and Eric Bates, 19 — matched the description of the robbery suspects.
Burnett and Bates were charged with aggravated robbery and three counts of kidnapping.
Brandon Dawson, 18, the alleged driver, was charged with complicity to aggravated robbery.
When police interviewed a pharmacy employee, she told them two men jumped the counter and struck her on the back. They screamed: “Open the safe. Where is the safe?” the report said.
She placed prescriptions and a tracking device inside the bag, the report said.
Two other Rite-Aid employees told police the suspects made them get on the floor during the alleged robbery.
Later, police were told that 2,180 pills were missing from the pharmacy.
All three will have their preliminary hearings next week in Middletown Municipal Court, court records show. All three remain in Middletown City Jail.
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