ROCK HILL, S.C.,None — Marvin Hyatt walked into his pharmacy business Monday morning and thought everything looked normal. At least until he walked to a hallway in the back of the Rock Hill shop.
"My father came in at his usual time of 8:15 and didn't see anything wrong," said his son, Alton Hyatt. "Then he noticed the attic ladder was down, and we'd never leave it down."
Outside, behind the building, Rock Hill police had the area blocked off with yellow tape. A wooden stepladder was left sitting on an air-conditioning unit, and looking up, you can see where a round attic vent was pushed in.
Surveillance video shows a man carrying a stepladder right in front of the camera around 3:45 Monday morning. He climbed up to the roof, crawled into the attic and down the ladder into the pharmacy. The crook was only in the building for 30 seconds, long enough to go right to a shelf behind the counter and steal hydrocodone and other prescription pills. He left the same way, never touching any doors or windows.
"It's emotional," Hyatt said. "We take a lot of pride in the community. The community's been great to us, yet here we get hit again."
He's talking about a highly-publicized crime spree in June 2009. Three men smashed their way into Good Pharmacy three times in as many weeks. Video showed them kicking open doors, shattering large picture windows and doing major damage to the small building. During each crime, they loaded up with high-powered painkillers and antidepressant medication.
A Channel 9 viewer recognized the suspects from surveillance video and they were arrested within weeks of the last break-in. One of the suspects still had pill bottles stolen from the pharmacy in his car.
Since then, Hyatt said the pharmacy has dramatically upgraded security, adding cameras and other measures of protection. Rock Hill police said the system is about as good as could be expected.
"They have an excellent security system. I'm not sure there's anything else they could've done at this time," said Detective Brent Allmon.
Hyatt family members are worried about the latest crime. They hope they don't have to relive the fear and frustration of what happened three years ago.
"It's just the apprehension now, walking in. Especially if you're the one walking in first thing in the morning," Hyatt said.
The suspect wore a light-colored hooded sweatshirt, light pants and a surgical-type mask over his face. Though the description is vague, police hope someone may recognize him.
The pharmacy plans to install iron bars in that attic window where the burglar got in.
If you have any information about the break-in at Good Pharmacy, call York County Crime Stoppers at 877-409-4321.
WSOC
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