• DPMC Moderators: thegreenhand | tryptakid
  • Drug Policy & Media Coverage Welcome Guest
    View threads about
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Drug Busts Megathread Video Megathread

Cops take down drugstore robber carrying GPS-tagged pill bottle

S

straightrazor

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 25, 2013
Messages
149
Police shot and killed an armed man suspected of robbing a drugstore on the Upper East Side Friday afternoon, the NYPD confirmed.

Scott Kato, 45, robbed the HealthSource Pharmacy on Second Avenue and 68th Street Friday afternoon, demanding cash and OxyContin, police said. He fled in an SUV and made almost 30 blocks when cops tracked him down, police said. How? One of the pill bottles he took from the drugstore was actually a decoy containing a GPS device, police said.

Officers confronted him in his car, which was stopped in traffic at East 96th Street right under the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Drive overpass, the NYPD said. He pulled a gun on them, so they opened fire, killing him, police said.

Scores of cops were deployed to the area. The shooting investigation caused a massive traffic backup. Officials advised motorists to avoid the southbound FDR Drive.

Kato is suspected of at least six armed robberies since December 2011, including a prior robbery at the same pharmacy back in December 2013, Fox 5's Stacey Delikat reported.

The NYPD has been using the GPS-enabled bait bottles for more than a year. Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, also makes the bait bottles. The company told Fox 5 that the traceable bottles have helped nab more than 100 robbery suspects around the country.

The four police officers involved in the shooting were taken to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell as a precaution, the NYPD said. The AP reported that they were treated for ringing in their ears.

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/25538225/shooting-near-fdr-drive
 
Where do they put the transmitter? Is it embedded in the bottle, or is it inside one of the pills? How tiny can a transmitter plus power source be?
 
... said:
Where do they put the transmitter? Is it embedded in the bottle, or is it inside one of the pills? How tiny can a transmitter plus power source be?
Click to expand...

I Googled around a bit for details but they are unclear; the one thing I have found out is that the GPS tracker seems to be in the bottle itself and that the "bait bottles" are manufactured by Perdue just like the Oxycontin are. Here is a snipped from an article from 1/13 (http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/15/nation/la-na-nn-nypd-oxycodone-20130115)

New York police plan to distribute "bait bottles" of fake pain-killers equipped with invisible GPS devices in a drive to combat the scourge of pharmacy robberies by addicts and sellers looking for oxycodone tablets, which can fetch more than $80 per pill on the street.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced the novel approach at the 2013 Clinton Health Matters Conference in La Quinta on Tuesday, saying his city's cases of oxycodone-related crime have included a retired police officer who resorted to robbing pharmacies to satisfy his craving for the highly addictive narcotic.

"In the event of a robbery or theft, we'll be able to track the bottle which may lead us to stash locations across the city," Kelly said in prepared remarks to the conference.

Eventually, the tracking effort could expand to include actual placebo tablets being fitted with tracking devices, police say.

The fitting of tracking devices on bottles filled with placebos is the latest effort to combat a problem that the Drug Enforcement Administration says is getting worse and fueling a market for other cheaper drugs, including heroin, which have effects similar to those of the prescription painkillers.
Click to expand...

Another article said that the devices didn't become active until they left the pharmacy they were in. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the tech is currently available to make a powered-GPS that is small enough to be contained in a pill but that is just speculation.
 
Its prob in the bottle, they can make them really small not I'm not sure if they can make it small enough to fit on a label. Or its in a bottle of fake pills. I've always heard perdue gives pharmacies fake oxy bottles just in case they get robbed. They are identical but don't have any oxy in them. That way the robber thinks they made off with a load of pills but really got a bunch of bunks.
 
I wonder if that is one of the causes of people getting/selling fake oxy on the black market, the fact someone else stole a bottle of fake oxy from a pharmacy thinking it was real and somehow unloaded it on some unscrupulous or unsuspecting dude later on when they found out what was up. Hell, if I were ever desperate enough to rob a pharmacy like that I wouldn't go primarily for the oxycodone - I'd be much more interested in morphine or fent, and much more interested in hydromorphone and oxymorphone (at least I can say that there wasn't even a time I've fantasized about it; it always just seemed so much easier to just take a break till I can get my dope, money or whatever that would have led me down that path of desperation than risk my life and freedom in such a silly way in the first place - not saying Drugstore Cowboy isn't awesome, just saying maybe I don't have the balls/am too lazy).
 
Kind of off topic but I recall picking up a legit prescription for Percocet not that long ago, and I felt no relief after using some. And I've always wondered ever since if they were fake.
 
Captain.Heroin said:
More violence and waste of resources.

When will people demand change?
Click to expand...

Going after an armed robber is a waste of resources? I'm all for harm reduction, decriminalization/legalization, and the demilitarization of the United States police forces -- particularly the trigger happy NYPD. This instance is hardly what I would call a waste of resources given the man was wanted in five prior armed robberies as well as pulling a firearm on police. What change are you looking for? We aren't talking about some non-violent drug user here, this was a violent and blatantly criminal act.

The war of drugs is a complete clusterfuck but we as a community need to pick and choose our battles. What this guy was doing is indefensible. It is a shame he died, but if the dude broke in to my house and pulled a gun on me I can't say the outcome would be any different.

Googling around pops multiple headlines such as Suspect Arrested in New York Pharmacy Killings where 4 people were murdered during a similar robbery. I fail to see how attempting to prevent further incidents such as these is a waste of resources.

While the war on drugs is an obvious failure, the fact remains many people involved in the drug game *are* violent criminals and should be dealt with as such.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top