January 16, 2009

Police combing through video leads

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Police in Whitehall and Rutland continue to look for a man who robbed two pharmacies at gunpoint last Monday.

Whitehall Village Police Chief Matthew Dickinson said that the police are working on a number of leads, including those they got from surveillance cameras.

“We have been working video leads,” said Dickinson. “We have all of the different surveillance from around the community.”

Along with the surveillance form the cameras throughout the town of Whitehall, the police also have shots taken from the Rite Aid Pharmacy in West Rutland.

“We have a very good still photo of our number one suspect and we are working on determining an identification,” said Dickinson.

While the local police have relied on surveillance from different stores in the area, there were no pictures or video available from the CVS Pharmacy.

Dickinson said that there was a form of security at the store, but that CVS as well as all local businesses are now using some sort of surveillance.

“CVS did have some type of surveillance with motion detectors, but that is more of an after hours thing,” said Dickinson. “All of our community stores do now have surveillance as we speak, and CVS is not an open target, they do have video.”

The suspect in question fled from the CVS store on Broadway in Whitehall at about 6:35 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 5, after he had entered the store and went to the pharmacy counter, where he appeared to show a gun to the employee at the pharmacy counter and gave a note demanding OxyContin and Oxycodone.

“He was displaying what appeared to be a handgun to the store employee in his waistband,” said Whitehall Village Police Chief Matthew Dickinson. “The pharmacy employee complied with the demand and the suspect fled on foot in a southerly direction without any further incident.”

The Rite Aid in West Rutland was also held up at approximately 7:21 p.m. by a man who had a similar description and also showed what appeared to be a handgun and gave an employee a note demanding the same narcotics.