Tosa Investigators' Work Nets 65-Year Sentence for Armed Robber

After Wauwatosa detectives developed him as the suspect in a series of armed robberies of pharmacies for narcotics, a Milwaukee man has been tried and sentenced to 65 years in prison.

According to federal sentencing guidelines, most of that sentence is mandatory, meaning Daniel Lee will probably not leave prison.

Lee, 50, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court on four counts of armed robbery, including the March 15, 2012, robbery of Swan Serv-U Pharmacy in Wauwatosa.

That was the first of several robberies recounted in a criminal complaint when Lee was charged, but a key piece of evidence found early on by Tosa detectives would lead to his identification and arrest.

Get local stories like this on Facebook. Click to join us!

When Lee fled from the successful robbery of Swan Pharmacy, 9130 W. North Ave., he dropped his robbery demand note in the alley behind the business. He left either his fingerprints or DNA, or both, on the note, and Tosa officers found it.

Lee went on to commit more robberies, but his days were numbered only by the time it took the State Crime Lab to process the note and identify him.

A piece of paper is a piece of evidence

Lee walked into the Swan store at 12:40 p.m. March 15 and presented his note. He was wearing a surgical mask when he came in – but that wasn't considered unusual in a neighborhood drug store, where a customer might have a respiratory problem.

The note said: “This is a robbery. Put all Oxycodone in bag. 30, 15, 10, 5 (milligram pills). I have a gun.”

Lee held a hand inside the bag, implying that he was holding a weapon on the pharmacy technician at the counter.

After he left with some 2,000 pills, he dropped the note about 60 feet down the alley out back. It was the only real evidence police recovered – a scrap of paper in an alleyway. But the pharmacy tech confirmed it was the note that had been showed her. There was no other clue to Lee's identity.

Lee would rob another pharmacy in Milwaukee two days later and another a week and a half after that. The federal charging complaint did not indicate that any other solid evidence was recovered in those robberies.

Once identified by the Crime Lab, Lee was rounded up quickly, before April was out. Large amounts of prescription narcotics were found at his residence. At some point, a fourth count was added to his file.

Lee admitted the robberies to federal authorities and said he was robbing pharmacies for opiate drugs to keep a number of addicted customers supplied.