Pills May Be Behind Spike In Bay Area Burglaries
SONOMA COUNTY (CBS 5) -- Across the Bay Area, several cities are seeing an increase in home burglaries. The spike in burglaries may have to do with a very expensive pill.
Bennett Valley in Sonoma County is a peaceful neighborhood. Just a few months ago, out of nowhere, the area experienced a rash of burglaries.
Deborah Sullivan came home to find her back door broken into, and her bedroom in shambles. "Everything was a mess, all the drawers out on the bed," she said.
In the master bathroom, where she kept all her jewelry, all the family heirlooms were gone, even the dog tags from her father, who served in World War II.
Detective Mike Raasch with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department was assigned to the case, and several others. "I saw nine in probably a three-week period," he said.
Raasch soon noticed similarities. "The suspect had broken in through the front door, targeted the master bedroom and the master bathroom," he said.
Working with Santa Rosa police, Raasch connected the dots, arresting 17 people including alleged ringleader Jason Cassell. "We recovered a lot of items in the $100,000 range."
The items recovered were mostly jewelry. But other evidence revealed the burglars' motive.
"We found drugs. Most all of them were addicted to OxyContin," he said.
OxyContin addiction certainly isn't new. What is new is a rather sudden, dramatic price increase of the drug on the street. Six months ago, one pill went for $40. Today, that same pill goes for over $100.
Why? The manufacturer of OxyContin is trying to stop people from abusing the pill.
People wanting an OxyContin high crush up the tablets and snort it. The tablets, called "OC's" can also be liquefied and injected.
"They will put it in a spoon, they will heat the bottom of the spoon," Raasch explained.
So the manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, switched to a new version of the tablet, called "OP". "If you try to crush it, it stays together," Raasch said.
But the old pills are still on the street, costing ever more, and according to police, causing a spike in property crimes. Burglaries last year in Santa Rosa were up 18 percent from 2009.
"It's just like an epidemic. It's nothing like I have ever seen before," said Sonoma County Assistant Public Defender Kathleen Pozzi.
And Pozzi said it's not the usual suspects. "Good families, good decent kids, that I am hearing were college-bound, had everything going in their lives," she said.
But when they start using OxyContin, Pozzi said, "The addiction level is almost immediate. They will do anything to get this drug."
Such as 27-year-old Alex Johnson, who became addicted to OxyContin. "He was funny. We would crack each other up," said Rose Johnson, Alex's sister.
She says Alex was an energetic kid who grew up to love fishing and the outdoors, until OxyContin took over his life. "I wouldn't hear from him for weeks. He was ashamed, I know he was ashamed," Rose Johnson said.
Johnson was arrested on a misdemeanor in the Jason Cassell investigation. Two hours after getting out of jail, he was found dead in the bathroom of a gas station just down the street from the jail.
"He had overdosed," Rose Johnson said. "It's just like horrifying."
Pozzi said Johnson's death is just a precursor. "I fear that they are going to end up dying. They are certainly going to start using again, and they are going to commit more crimes," she said.
Some law enforcement sources told CBS 5 we may be seeing the peak of OxyContin abuse as the "OC" pills run out. But others we talked to suspect users will find a way to get around the new pills, or just simply switch back to heroin.
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