Suspect arrested in pharmacy robbery

Wellsville police, working in tandem with officers from the Ottawa Police Department and Miami County Sheriff’s Department, apprehended a suspect Tuesday morning in the armed robbery of a Wellsville pharmacy.

Shortly before noon Monday, someone described as white male in his late 20s entered the Auburn Family Pharmacy with a handgun and ordered everyone to the floor. He demanded that pharmacy staff give him all the hydrocodone, also known as Vicodin.

Wellsville police responded to the incident and were assisted by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, Kansas Highway Patrol and the Ottawa Police Department. An investigation identified the car used to leave the scene, and Wellsville police obtained a search warrant for the suspect’s vehicle and, later, his rural Miami County home.

Wellsville Police Chief Steve Gillespie said police contacted the suspect at his residence about 45 minutes after the incident. He agreed to come to the Wellsville police department for an interview. A subsequent investigation, as well as evidence recovered by officers, led the police to arrest the man.

Gillespie said the man was charged with aggravated robbery by Wellsville police. The Miami County Sheriff’s Department also filed charges against the man, but no information was available about those charges.