A man who allegedly committed five armed robberies at CVS pharmacies across Michigan was arrested after a pharmacist discreetly gave him a decoy pill bottle with a tracking device inside, ClickOnDetroit reported.
Kristopher Kukola admitted in an interview to conducting five robberies – one at the same store twice – from May 24 to July 7 and admitted to brandishing a BB gun in each case, according to authorities. The FBI is currently investigating all robberies and the Kukola, and authorities say there is probable cause to charge the suspect with “pharmacy robbery.”
Kukola’s five alleged robberies occurred at CVS stores in Van Buren Township on May 24 and June 8, Saline on June 2, Ann Arbor on June 14, and Milan on July 7.
In each robbery, the suspect would allegedly brandish a handgun – which he claimed to investigators was a BB gun – and would hand the pharmacists a note with the list of substances he wanted, except in the Ann Arbor case where he verbally demanded the substances, ClickOnDetroit reported.
The suspect allegedly stole Substances ranging from Oxycodone, Vicodin Norco, Adderall, Promethazine plus Codeine, Xanax, Percocet, and Morphine, according to ClickOnDetroit, citing criminal complaints and authorities.
In the suspect’s first robbery in Van Buren Township, a criminal complaint alleges that over $2,000 worth of substances were stolen during the robbery. The pharmacist described the suspect as being around 5’10 to investigators.
In the Saline robbery, “[m]ore than $500 worth of controlled substances were stolen from the pharmacy, the criminal complaint says,” ClickOnDetroit noted. The pharmacist told authorities that the suspect appeared to be thin, 6’0, and in his late 20s or early 30s.
The suspect allegedly returned to the Van Buren CVS Pharmacy and stole another $2,000 worth of substances. A staff worker told authorities that the man appeared 6’0 tall and about 30 years old.
At the Ann Arbor location, the suspect allegedly stole over $2,000 worth of substances.
The suspect’s final armed robbery in Milan occurred around 10:45 a.m, while all previous incidents had taken place at night. A court document alleges that the suspect stole between $30,000 and $40,000 worth of prescription drugs from the Milan CVS location.
During the Milan robbery, as the pharmacist was filing up a bag with the substances on the list the suspect gave him, he slipped a fake pill bottle that contained a GPS tracking device into the bag, which was crucial to catching the suspect.
The tracking device led authorities to an apartment complex in Belleville as they suspected the alleged robber was driving a silver Jeep Compass, which led them to the complex.
As Michigan State Troopers set up a perimeter, with a K-9 dog brought in for assistance, a man came up to a trooper on scene and told him, “The guy you are looking for ran that way,” ClickOnDetroit reported. Officers on the scene believed it was the suspect from the Milan robbery, and they moved in to arrest the suspect, later revealed to be Kukola, per a criminal complaint.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.
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