Burglars plunder Nipomo drug store for prescription medications

A Nipomo drug store was burglarized early Sunday morning of about $1,900 worth of prescription medications, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies received a call at about 1:30 a.m. that an alarm was sounding at Nipomo Rexall Drugs at 330 W. Tefft St. and observed the front door window to the business was broken, spokesman Tony Cipolla said.

They waited for the pharmacist manager, Jessica Mashayekhan, to arrive. Mashayekhan, a partial owner of the business, said they pulled the surveillance videos and observed two men breaking into the store using some sort of stick that “looked like a baseball bat, but sheriff’s deputies said it was heavier than that.”

On their way into the pharmacy, one of the men grabbed a trash can and started filling it up with medications.

“They just grabbed stuff and filled that thing up and whatever didn’t fit in there they carried out,” Mashayekhan said. “One was carrying the trash can, the other had his hands full of boxes of medications.”

“They knew the medications because they targeted narcotics,” she added.

They were inside the business for about a minute and a half, Cipolla said. Mashayekhan said she reviewed surveillance footage from a nearby business today and saw the men leave in a small black SUV or hatchback. The driver stayed inside the vehicle while the burglary took place, she said.

Surveillance footage shows one of the men wearing a hooded sweatshirt; the other has a headlamp. Both were wearing gloves and running shoes. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 805-781-4550.

Mashayekhan said she spent all day Sunday at the store, waiting to get the glass fixed and conducting inventory so she could open for customers Monday.

This story was originally published September 19, 2016 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Burglars plunder Nipomo drug store for prescription medications."