LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Through the work of several federal investigators, 18 people from Texas were arrested for allegedly stealing more than $1.5 million worth of prescription medicine from Arkansas pharmacies.
The organized crime ring from Houston is accused of robbing more than 20 Arkansas pharmacies.
Federal officials said it was part of a "rich off meds" operation between February 2022 and November 2023.
"They traveled by rental car from Texas to Arkansas where they would shatter the glass at pharmacy locations in the early morning hours," U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross said. "Then a low crawl on the floor to evade motion detectors and systematically remove dangerous opioid benzodiazepine and other scheduled medications from pharmacy shelves."
Ross said they then brought the medicine back to Houston and sold it to buy guns and custom jewelry.
Houston law enforcement also collected nearly $80,000 in the drug bust.
Unfortunately, the targeted pharmacies and the patients relying on their medications felt the impact.
"Patients either had to wait on a new supply of controlled substances or go to other pharmacies to have their prescriptions filled," DEA Diversion Program Manager Connie Overton said.
Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy Director John Kirley said it was disheartening.
"I got many of these disheartening calls from my colleagues, my friends, my fellow pharmacists when they would come into their store and discover that overnight, they had been broken into, and they'd had a loss of controlled substances," Kirtley said.
They said they're happy to get these potentially dangerous drugs off the streets.
"We're all friends. We will work on these things together," Kirtley said. "We're resources for each other, so I just want to thank everyone today... this is an absolutely wonderful end to a tragic story. I look forward to seeing more results like this in Arkansas."
Seven defendants appeared in federal court Tuesday, and the rest are set to have their hearings at the Federal Courthouse in Little Rock on Jan. 16.