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Press Release

Two Men Who Broke into Pharmacies and Stole Controlled Substances Sentenced

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Texas

ABILENE, Texas — Two men who admitted breaking into pharmacies and stealing controlled substances, Marcus Christopher Hargrove, Jr., and Kirkston Bernard Smith, each age 24, were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Hargrove, of Manvel, Texas, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, and Smith, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison.  Each pleaded guilty in September 2016 to one count of burglary involving controlled substances.

According to plea documents, on October 18, 2015, officers with the Sweetwater Police Department were dispatched to Maloney’s Pharmacy, located on Hailey Street in Sweetwater, Texas, regarding a report that a drive-through window was not intact.  Officers observed shards of glass below the window and several medication boxes and bottles on the floor.  One of the glass shards had blood on it, and there was blood on the windowsill and outside of the building.  The blood was analyzed and it was determined that it was Smith’s.  Smith stole more than $8,700 worth of hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone, and other narcotics from this pharmacy during this robbery.

On December 20, 2016, according to plea documents, two persons smashed a large glass window on the south side of National Central Pharmacy, located on 14th Street in Abilene.  Surveillance video showed the two burglars went to an interior room where narcotics are kept in a locked cabinet, but they were unable to open it.  The video showed they tried to pry open the cabinet doors, and then they pushed the cabinet over onto the floor and tried to stand on top of it to break open the doors.  Their efforts failed.  The investigation revealed drops of blood on the cabinet.  The blood was analyzed and it revealed that Hargrove was one of the burglars.

The Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Juanita Fielden prosecuted.

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Updated December 16, 2016
Component
USAO - Texas, Northern