BY MAT GILDERMAN
CLOQUET PINE JOURNAL
A Floodwood man has been charged with trying to break in to the Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy in Cloquet -- for the second night in a row.
A burglar tripped the alarm in the store about 12:55 a.m. Oct. 26 but managed to get away with a variety of prescription medications, including Prozac, Ambien and Xanax, according to Cloquet Police Detective Darren Berg. Surveillance cameras from the pharmacy were turned over to police, which showed a lone male inside the store wearing a Minnesota Vikings jacket, dark hat and dark pants.
Late the same day -- about 10 p.m. -- the alarm at the Medicine Shoppe went off again. In addition to calling police dispatch, the alarm company notified store owner John Gust. According to police reports, Gust was nearby and arrived at the store at same time as police. Both observed a vehicle leaving the scene with no headlights.
ADVERTISEMENT
Cloquet police briefly followed the vehicle and stopped it on Highway 33, where 22-year-old Justin Scott Bailey was arrested in connection with the break-ins.
In the vehicle was a screwdriver and a metal crowbar, police said.
During his arrest, Berg said, Bailey was cooperative and later admitted to being involved in both incidents.
According to police reports, Bailey only entered the pharmacy once. When he returned a second time on Oct. 26, the alarm went off because Bailey allegedly was banging on the door in an attempt to gain entry.
Bailey was staying at the Driftwood Motel on the Highway 33 frontage road in Cloquet. On Friday, Berg brought Bailey back to the motel for an evidence search, where the Vikings jacket was recovered, along with nearly all of the stolen medications.
Bailey is being held in the Carlton County Jail on two charges of second-degree burglary. He has a prior burglary conviction and was on probation in St. Louis County before the incidents in Cloquet, Berg said.
