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CALCUTTA -- An Indianapolis man has been charged in connection to a September robbery at a local pharmacy, and police Chief Brian McKenzie credited one of his new detectives for staying on top of the case until it was solved.
A warrant for robbery has been issued for Tyrez L. Boyd, 24, who is currently incarcerated in Clark County, Ohio, on a robbery charge.
Boyd is alleged to have been one of two men who entered the Buckeye Pharmacy on state Route 170 on Sept. 27, pointing a gun at the three employees inside and ordering them to the ground. One of the men ordered the pharmacists to unlock the safe where opioids are stored.
The men used zip ties to bind the employees' hands behind their backs, ordering them into a restroom before fleeing the pharmacy with cash from the register and bottles of pills.
A witness observed the men run from the store and enter a vehicle with a third man and flee the area onto McGuffey Drive, where they tossed out two pill bottles.
It was these pill bottles that led to Boyd's arrest, Detective Greg Smith said Monday, noting that McKenzie and former Detective Troy Walker had discovered the discarded bottles at the end of the road and it was confirmed they came from the Buckeye Pharmacy robbery.
Saying since the robbery he has kept in contact with other police departments where similar robberies have taken place, Smith said he was notified that one of them asked him if he had noticed that officers in Clark County had "got a man," and he had that department send him information.
As it turned out, Boyd's fingerprints were reportedly found on the pill bottles in St. Clair Township Police Department's possession, and Smith said, "They had gloves on in the store, but they must have taken them off in the car, thinking we'd never pick up bottles they threw out of the car."
He said Boyd was arrested in Springfield, Ohio, following a Dec. 5 robbery at a pharmacy in which employees were also bound with zip ties.
In addition to the pill bottles Smith said ties Boyd to the local case, the detective said he obtained phone records from the suspect's account that show he had made calls on that date in this area within 30 to 40 minutes of the robbery in Calcutta.
Smith said he expects to file additional charges against Boyd in connection to this case and noted there have been upwards of 40 robberies with the same types of action by the perpetrators, although the one he is investigating was the one committed farthest east in the state, he said.
He has checked suspects arrested in these other robberies in an attempt to locate the others involved in the Buckeye Pharmacy heist and said, "I'm looking at other people, too. We didn't fall asleep on this (case)."
McKenzie agreed, saying, "It just happened that myself and Detective Walker recovered the pill bottles, but Greg has done a real nice job staying on top and networking with other departments. Without him staying on it, we may not have been able to link this individual with our crime."
The chief continued, "This was a very serious crime where people were bound and weapons were pointed at them. Because everybody did a nice job, the pieces are falling into place now."
Smith and McKenzie said a "hold" has been placed on Boyd in Clark County, meaning he will be returned to Columbiana County before being released from any cases there.
jgilbert@mojonews.com