Four pharmacy burglaries were reported across the L.A. area in a 48-hour period, including at one location that was targeted just over a month ago.
The owner of LAX Pharmacy, which lies in the 4000 block of Lennox Boulevard in Lennox, told KTLA on Wednesday that his store had last been hit around 40 days ago, which was around when they got their last shipment of codeine cough suppressant.
He said that six suspects bypassed his recently installed security measures around 2:15 a.m. Wednesday and broke into the store to steal more codeine. Police were not able to confirm what, if anything, was stolen.
The Lennox burglary occurred shortly before another pharmacy in Beverly Hills was hit by multiple thieves.
That incident took place at Pharmacy 90210 on Wilshire Boulevard around 2:45 a.m. and involved a group of four to five suspects, Beverly Hills Police Department officials said in a statement issued Wednesday morning.
Those suspects then fled in a Dodge Durango Hellcat that was later determined to be stolen, BHPD said. Officers initiated a pursuit that they briefly lost but found again on the 10 Freeway with the help of an assisting Los Angeles Police Department air unit.
While traveling eastbound on the 10 at a high rate of speed and without lights, the suspect’s vehicle exited the freeway in downtown Los Angeles near L.A. Live; at this point, the LAPD was now leading the pursuit, which tracked them to the 1700 block of East Imperial Highway in Watts.
“Upon reaching the area of Imperial Highway [near] 115th Street, four to five suspects ran from the stolen vehicle,” Beverly Hills police said. “Law enforcement established a perimeter…one suspect was taken into custody, and the stolen vehicle was impounded for evidence.”
The person taken into custody was identified as 18-year-old Los Angeles resident Sergio Giobanni Estrada Ochoa.
He was booked on one charge of commercial burglary. The exact loss at the pharmacy was not immediately known.
Wednesday morning’s burglaries come on the heels of two other pharmacies being burglarized in Sun Valley and Valley Village.
It is not known if any of the incidents are related.