A 21-year-old man whose addiction to a prescription painkiller lead him to rob two pharmacies in two days, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison Monday.
Anthony Morgan Watson pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and two counts of wearing a disguise. He was given four months credit for time he had already spent in custody.
Watson and an accomplice robbed two pharmacies, one in St. Albert and one in Camrose earlier this year. In both cases he went in demanding Oxycontin, a prescription painkiller.
Watson and the other man were also charged with an attempted robbery in Morinville, but those charges were withdrawn as part of a plea arrangement, though the circumstances were read into the record as an aggravating factor in the sentencing hearing
According to Crown prosecutor John Donahoe, on January 19 Watson and his accomplice, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, attempted to rob the Guardian Drugs in Morinville.
The pair both approached the store with knives and were wearing balaclavas, but Watson backed out as the robbery got under way and the pair fled.
Shortly before 7 p.m. on that same day, police received a 911 call from the Health Select Pharmacy in the Tudor Glen Market.
Watson and his accomplice entered this pharmacy, again with balaclavas and knives and one of the men immediately jumped the counter, rifling through the pharmacy looking for Oxycontin.
The lone pharmacist backed away from the two men and went for the phone, but Watson noticed and charged toward her, grabbing the phone out of her hand and ripping it from the wall.
The pharmacist also told the two men they did not stock the drug, but they continued looking for it anyway.
The robberies continued on to Camrose the next day to rob another pharmacy. In that case they hopped the counter and eventually found the narcotic.
They fled that pharmacy with $1,418 worth of the drug.
Camrose police interviewed Watson the next day and he provided a full account of all of the robberies.
Donahoe told Judge Bruce Garriock that Watson was coming to court without any criminal record, but had obviously netted a very serious start.
“This would be his first introduction to the court, quite an introduction I would say.”
Watson’s lawyer Gary Smith told Garriock the young man was obviously addicted to the drug and had made attempts to kick the habit, including two stays in a residential treatment program.
Speaking via video link from the Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre, Watson said he desperately wanted to overcome his addiction and was shocked at what he done.
“I am grateful no one was injured as a result of my actions,” he said. “I just need to get my life together. All I can do is move forward from this.”
The three-and-a-half-year term was a joint submission from Smith and Donahoe. Garriock said he no reason not to accept it.
