Hancock man charged in pharmacy robbery

April 20, 2006|by PEPPER BALLARD

A 26-year-old man was charged Tuesday with robbing Clear Spring Pharmacy of more than $4,000 worth of pain relievers April 4, according to charging documents.

Andrew Jacob Getz, of Box 451 Happy Hill Campground in Hancock, was charged with two counts each of armed robbery, robbery and second-degree assault and one count of theft over $500, according to documents filed by Washington County Sheriff's Department Investigator Chris Weaver.

Getz was ordered held at the Washington County Detention Center on $100,000 bond at a hearing Wednesday in Washington County District Court, court records state.

The robbery was reported at 11:45 a.m. at Clear Spring's only pharmacy, off Md. 68 near the town's Interstate 70 exit.

Getz allegedly entered the store, threatened to have a gun and ordered employees to the floor while asking the pharmacist to direct him to pain relievers, charging documents state. A review of the pharmacy inventory indicated 6,344 pills, worth $4,424, were stolen, documents state. The pills were Oxycodone, OxyContin, Percocet and Roxicet, according to charging documents.

A search and seizure warrant served at the camper he was staying in Tuesday turned up "a large quantity of Oxycodone pills that matched milligrams of that stolen from the pharmacy," Weaver said. According to a statement of probable cause, police also found a list of names with "owes" written on the paper inside the camper.

Getz was apprehended as part of a joint investigation between Weaver and the county Narcotics Task Force, according to a written release.

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