Prescription drugs at root of Tampa robbery

TAMPA - TAMPA, FL--Investigators say what happened inside Crown Pharmacy on Waters Avenue in Tampa on Friday could be at the root of the majority crime in our community.

In surveillance video you can see a man gloved up, and covered up with a ski mask and hoodie, walk up to the pharmacy counter and unfolds a note. Detectives say the note had a list of demands...

"Oxycotin, Roxycotin, Xanex, Percocet, and repeatedly demanded that she give him the 30 milligram tablets," says Tampa Police Detective Gary Balkcom.

Balkcom says the man in the surveillance video from Crown Pharmacy inferred he had a weapon, though he didn’t show it and within a matter of minutes several bottles of prescription narcotics were on the street.

"It's worse than crack, it's worse than meth, it's probably worse than heroine. They can't get off mentally or physically. If their family members try to lock them down, it would actually kill them," Balkcom says.

And the addiction fuels the constant cycle of crime. But investigators hope to chip away at that cycle by catching the man who robbed the pharmacy today. And they're hoping one woman, a customer who dashed out of the store, can help them.

"It was only within a matter of seconds of her leaving so she had to be in the parking lot, hopefully she saw him get into a car."

If you have any information about the robbery contact Tampa Police Department at 813 231-6130