Court date May 12 for man accused of robbing pharmacy

SHARON —Frank Campbell III, 59, is now awaiting trial on several charges, including one that he robbed and vandalised the Sharon Pharmacy on June 12, 2008, during a power outtage. His next appearance at Litchfield Superior Court is scheduled for May 12.

Also at that time he will respond to charges from October 2008 and December 2004 that include operation of a drug factory, sale of illegal drugs, possession of narcotics, larceny in the second degree and violation of probation. He is pleading not guilty to those and other charges. He has pled guilty to criminal possession of a pistol/revolver and possession with intent to sell/dispense.

The most recent of the charges against him is the break-in and robbery at the Sharon Pharmacy last summer, which was investigated by detectives at the state police Western District Major Crime Squad.

On June 12, following a power outtage caused by a summer storm, Edward Heacox, owner of the pharmacy, called the police at Troop B in North Canaan to report that someone had broken into the business and “affixed a chain to the store’s safe, and pulled the safe out of the front of the store with a motor vehicle,� according to the arrest warrant for Campbell. “The safe, which was estimated to weigh between 500 and 800 pounds, contained an extensive inventory of Class II narcotics, $1,114 in cash and $121 in checks.

“The estimated wholesale value of the narcotics contained within the safe,� according to the arrest warrant, “was $65,000 with a translated street value in excess of $100,000.�

Last October, state police interviewed a man listed in the court documents as a “cooperating witness.� He said that he believed the burglary had been committed by Frank Campbell and his two sons, Frank and Ryan. The witness said that the elder Campbell had offered to sell him OxyContin 40mg pills last June, three days after the burglary.

He said that Campbell told him the drugs were stolen from the Sharon Pharmacy; and that he had the idea to rob the store when he heard the power was out, because he knew “the pharmacy’s video equipment and alarm system would not be operational.�

He said that Campbell claimed to have wrapped a tow chain around the safe, hooked it to the rear of his white Ford Explorer and “drove forward several hundred feet, dragging the safe violently out of the pharmacy. He said he stopped on Calkinstown Road� and he and his sons loaded the safe into the back of the truck. The theft occured at approximately 3 a.m.

The witness said that Campbell stored the stolen drugs in two black garbage bags, and that he frequently moved the bags around to different locations within his residence on Butter Road.

When police arrested Campbell and did a search of his house on Oct. 10, they found the bags, which were filled with 65 prescription pill bottles with Sharon Pharmacy labels.

Campbell claimed that it was actually the cooperating witness who sold him the drugs, for $1,000.

After Campbell was arrested, state police searched his truck and found deep gouges on the floor at the hatch opening that, according to the arrest warrant, “would be consistent with a heavy, hardened object being pushed into or pulled out of the cargo area.� The gouges matched the dimensions of the pharmacy safe.

Campbell is out on bond for all the charges against him. The bonds total  more than $375,000. His sons have not been arrested.