Federal judge sentences man for 2016 pharmacy burglaries
Published 1:12 am Thursday, July 13, 2017
A U.S. District Judge sentenced Elyric Nathaniel Singleton to eight years in federal prison Tuesday after he plead guilty to nine separate burglaries at pharmacies across three states, including one in Opp last year.
Singleton was arrested last May after he and accomplice were nearly caught while attempting to break into a pharmacy in Lucedale, Miss., in a botched effort to steal controlled medications.
“Patrol units in the area heard an audible alarm coming from the pharmacy and pulled into the parking lot,” Acting United States Attorney Steve Butler said in a statement announcing the sentence. “Singleton and the other individual observed the patrol units and fled the building by breaking out the drive-thru window with a crowbar.”
After he was initially charged, Singleton admitted his involvement in prior burglaries at pharmacies in Opp, Elba, Auburn, Wetumpka and Opelika, as well as similar break-ins in the Mobile area and around the Florida Panhandle.
In Opp, video surveillance at Larry’s Prescriptions showed two individuals in a silver, newer-model SUV, breaking into the pharmacy. The video was widely distributed in an attempt to identify the two individuals.
Court records showed that in each burglary, Singleton stole or attempted to steal controlled substances from the pharmacies, renting new vehicles at various locations under his own name between January and May of 2016.
In addition to the DEA, agencies in Baldwin County, Lucedale, Opp, Opelika, Wetumpka, Escambia County, Fla., Robertsdale, and Auburn assisted in the investigation. Assistant U.S. attorneys Deborah Griffin and Christopher Bodnar prosecuted the case.