Three Gladstone, KC Residents Sentenced for Pharmacy Robberies, Fake Oxycodone Prescriptions

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that two Gladstone, Mo., residents and a Kansas City, Mo., man have sentenced in federal court for their roles in conspiracies to pass fraudulent prescriptions and to steal thousands of oxycodone pills in a series of pharmacy robberies.

Julian R. King, 22, of Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced today U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to 21 months in federal prison without parole. Tara D. Childress, 31, and Michael C. Bellinghausen, 33, both of Gladstone, were sentenced on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017. Childress was sentenced to 12 years and six months in federal prison without parole. Bellinghausen was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison without parole.

Childress and Bellingausen each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and to conspiracy to commit robbery. King pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery.

King, Childress and Bellinghausen are among nine co-defendants who have pleaded guilty in this case. Co-defendants Danielle Bradbury, 27, and Aaron M. Anderson, 26, both of Kansas City, Mo., and Melinda P. Backhus, 24, of Gladstone, have also been sentenced. Co-defendants Austin T. Bradbury (Danielle Bradbury’s husband), 27, Christa M. O’Dell, 21, and Matthew Larson, 25, all of Kansas City, Mo., have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

Bellinghausen and Childress admitted that they were involved with others in passing numerous fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone from May 1, 2013, to July 16, 2015, and either using or distributing those pills for money. Once it became more difficult to fill those fraudulent prescriptions, Bradbury agreed with others to begin robbing pharmacies in the metro area for oxycodone.

Bellinghausen admitted to planning the June 9, 2015, robbery of a Walgreens pharmacy at 1191 W. Kansas St., Liberty, Mo., which was then carried out by co-conspirators. In that robbery, a female conspirator loitered briefly in the store, asked where the tampons were located, and then left the store without making a purchase. At approximately 3:49 a.m., Bradbury and a co-conspirator entered the store wearing hooded sweatshirts and hospital surgical-style masks and gloves. They made their way directly to the pharmacy, where they jumped over the pharmacy counter, grabbed the pharmacist by the shirt, and forced him to identify where the oxycodone was stored and unlock the shelf. During this time the pharmacist reported that the male suspect held him by the shirt collar from behind and was holding something in the small of the victim’s back that the victim perceived to be a gun. The pharmacist did not actually see a weapon. The suspects then removed approximately 2,911 oxycodone pills of various strengths from the shelves and placed them into plastic Walgreens shopping bags that they removed from the counter. The suspects then fled the store through a rear exit.

Bellinghausen also admitted that he was the one who planned the other Walgreens pharmacy robberies committed during the summer of 2015.

Childress and King each admitted that they participated in the robbery of a Walgreens at 3915 S. Noland Rd., Independence, Mo., on May 16, 2015. King was the get-away driver for the robbery that occurred in the pre-dawn hours. Childress and Austin Bradbury demanded that the pharmacist provide them with oxycodone. The robbers successfully obtained approximately 1,426 doses of the drug and fled the scene.

King also admitted that he participated in the attempted robbery of the Independence Walgreens again on Sept. 9, 2015. Conspirators were detained by store personnel until officers arrived and arrested King and Backhus. Anderson, the getaway driver, fled the scene before officers arrived.

According to court documents, conspirators were also responsible for robbing the Walgreens at 2630 N.E. Vivion Rd., Kansas City, Mo., on May 5, 2015.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Marquez. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the FBI.