Decoy pill bottle leads agents to armed robber targeting Michigan pharmacies

Federal agents are crediting a hidden tracker in a decoy pill bottle for leading them to a man suspected of robbing pharmacies for narcotics.

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Kristopher Kukola is accused of robbing four CVS pharmacies in eastern Michigan between May 24 and July 7, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

Agents said Kukola first targeted a CVS in Van Buren Township, where he showed the handle of a gun and was given a number of pills in a bag, MLive reported. Days later, police in Saline were called to a CVS robbery, where the suspect again showed a gun, and asked the pharmacist to lie on the floor before running away.

A week later, on June 14, police say Kukola was in Ann Arbor, where he showed a pharmacist a gun and demanded oxycodone, WDIV reported.

Federal agents said that when Kukola robbed a CVS in Milan on July 7, he was given prescription pills along with a decoy pill bottle controlled by “3SI.” In the criminal complaint filed in court, agents said that “3SI is a third-party GPS tracking security company … that works with private corporations and law enforcement to provide investigators with historical or real time location of tracking devices disguised as merchandise intended to be stolen by suspects in crimes of theft.”

Police used the GPS signal to track the pill bottle and followed Kukola to an apartment complex where he attempted to run from officers, MLive reported. A police K-9 unit found Kukola, who tried to evade officers by saying, ‘the guy you are looking for ran that way,’” MLive reported.

When officers searched Kukola’s car, they found stolen prescription drugs and a BB gun matching the description of the weapon used in the previous robberies, WDIV reported.

Federal agents said that Kukola admitted to the robberies when questioned by detectives, and said he used a BB gun in all the robberies.

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