CA: Fresno pharmaceutical drug thefts follow bigger trend, detectives say

Broke into the store with hammers and attempted to steal as much prescription medication as they could get

Two people have been arrested for burglarizing the Save Mart at First and Nees Avenues on Friday morning.

According to police, 20-year-old Joseph Neves and a 17-year-old male broke into the store with hammers and attempted to steal as much prescription medication as they could get their hands on.

“They had taken a hammer to the front door, smashed it to gain entry, carried the hammer all the way to the back, smashed it against the window of the pharmacy, ran inside, started rummaging through and grabbing as many pharmaceutical prescriptions that they possibly could,” said Bill Dooley from the Fresno Police Department.

Officials say there were five employees inside the Save Mart at the time of the burglary. None of them were reported to have serious injuries.

“They were spread out through the save mart at the time,” Dooley said.

Neves was found hiding behind the Save Mart and taken into custody, while the other suspect gave himself up to authorities after they set up a perimeter around the store.

All of the prescription medication was recovered.

“We were able to set up on them nice and quick,” Dooley said.

Detective Kedric Anderson from the Clovis Police Department says there was an uptick in pharmacy burglaries towards the end of 2021, with three taking place in Clovis from November to December and at least three in Fresno. He says they were specifically targeting the drug Promethazine, and Save Mart management told him they might stop stocking the drug.

“It’s just kind of a new fad amongst these burglars, like this is a new thing to do right now. They were hitting all of the Save Marts. We caught one, it died down, then they went into hitting Walgreens, CVS and other pharmacies. As of this morning, it’s the first one in the last two months back to save mart again,” Anderson said.

Neves was booked into the Fresno County Jail, while the minor was booked into the Juvenile Justice Center. Both suspects face felony burglary charges.

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