Missoula pharmacy won't stock OxyContin

By Tristan Scott of The Missoulian - 01/06/2009

Gary Trenary spent more than $10,000 recently on security measures for his Missoula SavMor Pharmacy, and has decided not to keep the painkiller OxyContin in stock any longer - all in an attempt to deter drug addicts from robbing the store and endangering his family. Photo by KURT WILSON/Missoulian

MISSOULA — A string of drugstore burglaries prompted Karen Dove to invest in a sophisticated security system at her Seeley Lake pharmacy, transforming the small business into a fortified compound.

At night, motion sensors, surveillance cameras, a security gate, reinforced walls and metal studs help alert authorities and detain a burglar, trapping the interloper until police can arrive.

Gary Trenary spent more than $10,000 in security precautions at his Missoula phar-macy, a wager that paid off last week when the beefed-up security network helped thwart an attempted robbery.

"If we hadn't done what we've done, the girls wouldn't have been able to dive below the security counter and push the panic button," said Trenary, who owns SavMor Pharmacy, where his wife and daughter both work.

The would-be robber walked into the pharmacy last Monday night, demanded OxyContin, then turned around and left when she noticed that both pharmacists had ducked behind the towering security counter and hit an alarm.

But even despite the relatively benign outcome, Trenary is going to make another change he hopes will deter drug-seeking criminals.

"We're no longer going to handle OxyContin. We're just not going to stock it at all," he said. "That's what they all want and it's just not worth it. My daughter works here, my wife is here all the time. We're just a small private drugstore." For anyone who needs the painkiller legitimately, Trenary said, he can place an order and have the drugs within 24 hours.

Before Dove bought the Seeley Swan Pharmacy, she had worked at another area pharmacy that had been robbed and burglarized several times. She began boosting her security system almost as soon as she purchased the drugstore.

"I knew we'd be hit eventually," she said. "It's sad that pharmacies have to go to this extent. I'm brand new. I shouldn't have to put this much money into security when there's other areas where it could be used." Cameras and seismic sensors will detect anyone coming through the roof or wall, and a modified security gate locks the person inside.

"If they come in through the ceiling, they'll have to go out that way. And by then the police will have arrived," Dove said.

The security system was put to a rigorous test on Oct. 15, when Andrew Bagley allegedly climbed through a second-story window and hacked several holes in the drywall. The motion sensors failed, alerting police too late, and Dove reported that $1,388 in cash was stolen in addition to some $2,500 worth of prescription drugs.

On Nov. 10, the pharmacy was again burglarized, with Bagley allegedly getting in through a 14-by-22 inch hole in the drywall.

"It was very small, but he just wriggled his way through," Dove said.

This time the alarms were triggered immediately, Dove said, and Bagley, who also is charged with burglarizing the SavMor pharmacy, allegedly fled just before authorities arrived.

"The first time, he had time to sit there and pick through the drugs, just like he did at SavMor," Dove said. "The second time he didn't have that luxury and was only able to take about 50 bucks' worth of stuff. He dropped a lot of drugs trying to leave." Bagley, 26, now faces five counts of burglary and six counts of criminal drug possession, all felonies.

In 2007, Bagley was convicted of breaking into SavMor and stealing the drugstore's entire supply of OxyContin. Last month, exactly one year after a judge sentenced him to five years in the custody of the Department of Corrections and 10 years on probation, he was arrested outside SavMor again, having allegedly hacked through drywall with a crowbar to access nearly $13,000 in prescription medications.

Rob Scheben, the Missoula Police Department's crime prevention officer, said business owners like Dove and Trenary are doing right by taking lots of precautions.

"The key is, people need to make their establishments a less attractive target for criminals," he said. "Crime prevention isn't one magic thing. It's a ton of little things that add up."