Hidden GPS Tracking Device Helped Nab Pill Snatchers

10 Jan 2013

Thanks to a GPS tracker inside a pill bottle, Philadelphia police were able to track down pharmacy robbers who attempted to make off with narcotics.

Two thieves — who thought they would get away with a crime at the Ride Aid in Rhawnhurst — were taken in as custody after being outsmarted by local police. The two men attempted and initially succeeded at stealing drugs from the pharmacy.

But this wasn’t the only pharmacy they stole from; they are suspected of being involved in a series of armed robberies at pharmacies throughout Pennsylvania, but the Philadelphia Rite Aid will be their last. Thanks to GPS tracking technology, like LiveViewGPS Tracking devices, the thieves have been caught, and the narcotics have been confiscated.

Approximately 9:30pm at the Rite Aid on the corner of Roosevelt Boulevard and Solly Avenue in Rhawnhurst, the two men wore masks and robbed the Rite Aid at gunpoint. They walked straight to the pharmacy, demanding bottles of pills. After grabbing the pills handed to them by the pharmacist, the two men jumped in a getaway car and took off with the loot.

One of the pill bottles happened to be embedded with a GPS tracking device; an action that proved to be efficient at tracking them down later on.

“What they didn’t know is that there was a GPS tracking device hidden in one of the narcotic pill containers,” Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

Weeks earlier, police in Philadelphia were concerned by how many pharmacy robberies there had been around the area, all seemingly by the same two masked gunmen. They decided to utilize modern technology by having GPS trackers embedded in pill bottles. The pharmacist of the Rite Aid in question was aware of the tracker and purposely handed over the pill bottle. It worked effectively, and was able to point police to the exact location of the thieves.

Will the help of the GPS tracker hidden in the pill container, police were able to track down the residence in less than an hour. They waited at the home until they could get a warrant to inspect the home.

Shortly after being tracked down to Torresdale Avenue in Philadelphia, police confirmed the pill bottles were inside their home, and arrested the two men. The suspects were in possession of the stolen pill bottles, masks, and two guns. Police also have possession of the SUV that was parked at the residence, and they believe to be their getaway vehicle.

The two men are also suspected of committing the other 17 pharmacy robberies that have occurred over the last few months in Philadelphia. The names of the suspects have yet to be released, and there is an ongoing investigation into whether or not the two men are also guilty of robbing the other 17 pharmacies in Philadelphia.


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