News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2008
Contact: Jodie Underwood
Number: (206) 553-5443

Shoreline Serial Pharmacy Robber Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

MAY 19 --(Seattle) – DEA Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Arnold R. Moorin and the United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Jeffrey Sullivan, announced that Nicholas A. DENT was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez to five years imprisonment for four counts of Pharmacy Robbery. DENT was also ordered to pay restitution of $13,947.

According to records filed in the case, DENT would enter a pharmacy in a hooded jacket with a bandana covering his face and point what appeared to be a pistol at the pharmacist. DENT would demand all the oxycontin and oxycodone in the pharmacy and would threaten to shoot the pharmacist if he or she did not comply. DENT actually was armed with an air soft pellet gun that the pharmacy personnel and customers believed to be a real gun. At the time of his plea agreement, DENT admitted he robbed the following pharmacies:

December 4, 2007, the Rite-Aid Pharmacy on Ballinger Way, Shoreline, Washington December 8, 2007, the Maple Leaf Pharmacy at 8830 Roosevelt Way, Seattle, Washington December 9, 2007, the Walgreen’s Pharmacy on 15th Avenue NE, Shoreline, Washington December 10, 2007, the Safeway Pharmacy on 15th Avenue NE, Shoreline, Washington

Additionally, DENT admitted that on December 11, 2007, he attempted to rob Katterman’s Pharmacy on Sand Point Way in Seattle. Using surveillance video from the attempted robbery, law enforcement tracked DENT to his home in Shoreline where they found oxycodone pills, cash and clothing worn in the robberies.

At sentencing U.S District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez said, “Oxycontin is one of the most addictive drugs this court has ever seen in all my years of doing this.” Judge Martinez also noted that DENT had put a number of people in fear and danger, and that in some of the pharmacies, customers who were particularly vulnerable and frail were present. “Heaven forbid that someone there had a real firearm and customers, or you, had been shot and killed,” the Judge told DENT.

This case was part of a continuing Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation focused upon the unlawful diversion of pharmaceutical controlled substances. The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Seattle Police Department, King County Sheriff’s Office and the Mill Creek Police Department.