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PARK CITY -- Summit County detectives say a pharmacy technician orchestrated a robbery at his own store to feed his OxyContin addiction. Deputies arrested the tech and his friend over the weekend.
Four thousand pills were stolen last October from a Jeremy Ranch Albertsons, which is now called Fresh Market. But it wasn't your run-of-the-mill robbery.
"From the very beginning, this was definitely a different case," said Summit County sheriff's Detective Ron Bridge.
In this robbery, all signs pointed to an inside job.
Detectives zeroed in on 27-year-old Leon Priet, the pharmacy technician. Stories weren't matching up, and the volume of pills taken was red flag No. 1.
"Getting away with 4,000 pills -- street value of right around $100,000 -- it immediately, it definitely piqued our interest," Bridge said.
Surveillance video from Oct. 29 shows a man dressed as a delivery person summoning Priet over to him. That man, 25-year-old Christopher Clough, hands Priet a note demanding OxyContin and other medications.
Priet goes behind the counter and fills a box with thousands of pills, seals it, and gives it to Clough -- out of the camera's view. Investigators said Priet obeyed Clough's orders and didn't call 911 until 20 minutes later.
"There was just a lot of hints that, possibly, Mr. Priet was actually involved in the crime," Bridge said.
Priet refused a polygraph test, so detectives went to his home to question him. In plain sight, they found dozens of pill bottles.
After that, Priet confessed, gave up Clough and detailed how they plotted.
"They go out clubbing together. And at some time, during some kind of drinking party, they came up with this plan. It was said to be about two weeks prior to the event," Bridge said.
According to the state licensing division, Priet's pharmacy license expired at the end of September. He told detectives he's addicted to OxyContin.
Officers seized 90 percent of the stolen pills. Neither grocery store would comment on the story.
The state licensing division is conducting its own investigation but wouldn't comment either.
E-mail: ngonzales@ksl.com
