Thousands in RX pills stolen from Maple Valley Animal Hospital

MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. --Human-grade prescription drugs were stolen from a Maple Valley Veterinary Hospital over the weekend and the break-in was all caught on camera.

Surveillance video shows the thief getting in by throwing a rock at the front glass door, and, after watching it, some at Wilderness Animal Hospital are wondering if it was an inside job.

“I looked on my Nest camera and I saw the person walking through the hospital,” Melanie McCoury with the hospital recalled.

Two-and-a-half minutes: that’s all it took for the thief to steal thousands of dollars worth of prescription drugs from Wilderness Animal Hospital in Maple Valley.

“On the video, the thief didn’t even walk faster when the alarm went off,” McCoury explained. “Just cool as a cucumber.”

The suspect got in by throwing a rock through the glass front door and headed straight for the pills that were strong enough to be locked up.

“That person had gone directly to where our controlled drug safe is,” McCoury said.

McCoury says the fact that the thief knew exactly where the safe was, makes some at the hospital wonder if someone gave the criminal some inside information.

“We don’t know if it is someone we know, someone local or if it’s just somebody looking to get drugs,” she said.

And officials don’t know who the man is behind the scarf either.

“The hope is that somebody recognizes the suspect and calls in because as you can see in the video, he has his face pretty well covered,” she said.

Sergeant Ryan Abbott with the King County Sheriff’s Office says about 80 percent of the drugs stolen were controlled substances.

“Whoever has their hands on this medication now, they could either be using it or selling it – and it could ultimately turn into a fatal mistake depending on who is using it and why they are using it,” Abbott said.

McCoury is also worried that because of the strength of the drugs that someone could get hurt.

“They’re human drugs also—we’re mammals and they’re mammals,” she said. “We use pain medicines and some narcotics and some medications that you know people want to abuse.”

Sergeant Abbott tells us someone attempted to break into another veterinary hospital just down the street from Wilderness Animal Hospital but was unsuccessful.

McCoury says they will be strengthening the security at their facility.

“Even my little town isn’t immune from the opioid crisis and crime, and I guess that’s just life,” she said mournfully.