CLAREMONT — A burglar stole more than $3,000 worth of medical equipment from a South Bronx pharmacy, according to police and a store employee.
The thief came into the RX For You pharmacy at 1767 Southern Blvd. through a side entrance around 3:30 p.m. on March 16 and rode an elevator to the basement, according to the NYPD.
He then used an object to break into the basement and steal roughly $3,675 worth of products before fleeing, police said.
The suspect took medical equipment for physical rehabilitation, including knee and shoulder machines designed to help patients recover from joint surgeries, according to pharmacy technician Alex Suarez.
Suarez said the pharmacy was also burglarized in January in a similar fashion, and he believes it may have been the same suspect.
"I guess the first time he managed to make money off of it," he said, "so I guess the second time, he was like, 'If they didn’t change the locks, I’m going to do it again.'"
Officers described the suspect as a man between 30 and 40 years old who has a medium complexion and was last seen wearing a black hooded jacket, black jeans, black sneakers and a tan skull cap.
Police did not know why there was a roughly one-month gap between the burglary and officials releasing information about it.
Suarez said he hopes they catch the suspect but was grateful that the burglary did not turn violent.
"Nobody got hurt, so that’s the good thing about it, you know?" he said. "We’ll replace everything else, but you know, you can’t replace one of us."
Anyone with information about this burglary is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES), then entering TIP577.
