KC Woman Sentenced for Pharmacy Robberies, Fake Oxycodone Prescriptions

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., woman was sentenced in federal court today for her role in conspiracies to pass fraudulent prescriptions and to steal thousands of oxycodone pills in a series of pharmacy robberies.

Danielle Bradbury, 27, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to five years and 10 months in federal prison without parole.

On May 23, 2016, Bradbury pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone and to participating in a conspiracy to commit robbery. Bradbury admitted that she was involved with others in passing numerous fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone from May 1, 2013, to July 16, 2015, and either using or distributing those pills for money. Once it became more difficult to fill those fraudulent prescriptions, Bradbury agreed with others to begin robbing pharmacies in the metro area for oxycodone.

Bradbury specifically admitted that she participated in the robbery of a Walgreens pharmacy at 1191 W. Kansas St., Liberty, Mo., on June 9, 2015. In that robbery, a female conspirator loitered briefly in the store, asked where the tampons were located, and then left the store without making a purchase. At approximately 3:49 a.m., Bradbury and a co-conspirator entered the store wearing hooded sweatshirts and hospital surgical-style masks and gloves. They made their way directly to the pharmacy, where they jumped over the pharmacy counter, grabbed the pharmacist by the shirt, and forced him to identify where the oxycodone was stored and unlock the shelf. During this time the pharmacist reported that the male suspect held him by the shirt collar from behind and was holding something in the small of the victim’s back that the victim perceived to be a gun. The pharmacist did not actually see a weapon. The suspects then removed approximately 2,911 oxycodone pills of various strengths from the shelves and placed them into plastic Walgreens shopping bags that they removed from the counter. The suspects then fled the store through a rear exit.

According to court documents, conspirators were also responsible for robing the Walgreens at 2630 N.E. Vivion Rd., Kansas City, Mo., on May 5, 2015, and a Walgreens at 3915 S. Noland Rd., Independence, Mo., on May 16, 2015. Conspirators attempted to rob the Independence Walgreens again on Sept. 9, 2015, but were detained by store personnel until officers arrived and arrested co-defendants Melinda Backhus, 24, of Gladstone, Mo., and Julian King, 22, of Kansas City, Mo. The getaway driver, Aaron Anderson, 26, of Kansas City, Mo., fled the scene before officers arrived.

Bradbury is the third defendant to plead guilty and be sentenced in this case. Anderson was sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison without parole. Backhus was sentenced to three years in federal prison without parole. Co-defendants Austin T. Bradbury (Danielle Bradbury’s husband), 27, Christa M. O’Dell, 21, and Matthew Larson, 25, all of Kansas City, Mo., and Michael C. Bellinghausen, 33, and Tara D Childress, 31, both of Gladstone, have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Marquez. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the FBI.