MONROE, CT — Police made one arrest of a suspect in the brazen daytime robbery of the Rite Aid pharmacy at 508 Monroe Turnpike on July 13, in which four men wearing ski masks ordered employees to open the safe where narcotics are stored, emptied the contents and made off with thousands of pills. No weapons were displayed.
Ishmael Henry, 25, waived extradition in New York, where he was being held on unrelated charges, and was arrested on a warrant from the Monroe Police Department Tuesday afternoon.
Henry, whose last known address is 165 MacDougal St. in Brooklyn, N.Y., was charged with second-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit second-degree robbery, first-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny, and criminal liability acts of another/second-degree threatening.
He was held on $150,000 bond and will be arraigned in Bridgeport Superior Court on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 172 Golden Hill Street. The investigation is ongoing.
A break in the case
On July 13, 2022, police officers responded to a robbery in progress at Rite Aid Pharmacy at approximately 3:40 p.m.
Witnesses reported that multiple male suspects wearing face coverings entered the store and walked to the pharmacy area. Once they gained access, three of the males demanded that a store employee open the safe where narcotics were located, according to a police press release.
A fourth male stood watch in the store aisle. Once the safe was opened by the employee, three of the males emptied the contents of the safe and left the store, police said.
Further witness reports indicated the four males got into a dark colored sedan with New York registration plates, left the parking lot and headed north on Monroe Turnpike. A check of the area by Monroe police officers yielded negative results for that vehicle.
Through an extensive investigation, Monroe police detectives identified the vehicle used in the robbery, police said, adding further investigation led to the identification of suspects and to the subsequent arrest of Ishmael Henry for his alleged involvement.
