Police Seek Tips on CVS Pharmacy Robber's Identity

A masked robber with a knife held up two Wauwatosa pharmacists Monday for drugs, leaving no evidence.

But he had cased the store about a week before, police say, and that may prove his undoing. He showed his face clearly on camera.

Wauwatosa police are asking the public's help in identifying the lone white male from still photos grabbed from in-store security video.

According to their reports:

At 8:20 a.m. Monday, the unknown suspect entered CVS Pharmacy at 7520 Blue Mound Rd. wearing gloves and a full-face orange ski mask. He went to the pharmacy counter where two technicians were working, showed the knife and asked for OxyContin.

The pharmacy techs said the robber behaved "timidly" during the holdup. He was given an undisclosed amount of 15mg and 30mg tablets of the narcotic and left quickly. He was last seen leaving the area on foot. No getaway vehicle was seen, and police could not find him in the area. 

But detectives reviewing video of the crime turned up a find from a week before. On the previous Tuesday, Feb. 12, the same man, wearing the same jacket and, unbelievably, the same orange ski mask rolled up like a stocking cap on his head, had been in the store.

Police said he acted suspiciously that day but did not commit any crime. He did, however, leave investigators with some excellent full-face portraits of himself.

The suspect is described as white, in his late 20s to early 30s, around 6 feet tall with a medium build, with brown hair and brown eyes, clean-shaven, wearing a tan winter jacket, gray pants, gray winter gloves and black shoes.

Anyone recognizing this subject is asked to call the Wauwatosa Police Department at 414-471-8430 and ask for the Detective Bureau.