Walmart Pharmacy Burglar Pleads Guilty
Sheriff’s Department Captured Suspect as he Fled Scene

FEB 06 -- (Seattle) – DEA Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Arnold R. Moorin and the United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Jeffrey Sullivan, announced that Joshua Jewsbury, 23, of Vancouver, Washington, pleaded guilty on February 5, 2009 in U.S District Court to burglarizing a Vancouver Walmart Pharmacy in order to obtain controlled substances.

According to the guilty plea, Jewsbury admitted that on January 7, 2009, he broke into the Walmart Pharmacy located at 9000 NE HWY 99, in Vancouver, Washington, and stole quantities of oxycodone, hydrocodone and diazepam. Jewsbury’s actions were captured by surveillance cameras, and due to the prompt response by the Clark County Sheriff’s Department, he was arrested while fleeing the scene. Several hundred pills were recovered.

Jewsbury is set for sentencing on May 8, 2009 in U.S District Court in Tacoma, Washington. Pharmacy burglary is a federal felony offense punishable by up to twenty years in prison. Pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals, where controlled substances are stored constitute protected federal facilities, and burglarizing or robbing such facilities is a violation of federal law.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Clark County Sheriff’s Department.