BENTON, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) — Two men from Houston, Texas, have been sentenced to federal prison for burglarizing pharmacies of controlled substances in Casey, Illinois, and Poplar Bluff Missouri, according to the Unted States Attorney’s Office Southern District of Illinois.
The two men, identified as, McKindley V. Allen, 32, and DaLeon J. Fontennet, 28, unlawfully entered a pharmacy in Casey with the intent to steal controlled substances by using a ‘Sawzall’ to cut through the exterior wall in December 2023, said the attorney’s office.
In January 2023, the two men also stole more than 16,000 pills from a pharmacy in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
“Damaging and burglarizing locally-owned pharmacies that provide vital healthcare services impair rural communities, and leave residents and employees without reliable support,” said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. “The defendants were only concerned with lining their own pockets with controlled substances and drug proceeds and had no regard for the destruction left for the communities to clean up.”
Allen and Fontenette both plead guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary involving controlled substances, conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and attempted burglary involving controlled substances, according to the attorney’s office.
Both men were sentenced to 100 months of imprisonment.
“DEA has seen a surge in burglaries of controlled substances at independent, non-chain pharmacies, which rips at the core of communities across this country” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Joseph Dixon, head of Drug Enforcement Administration investigations in southern Illinois. “With the sentencing of these two criminals, DEA demonstrates its steadfast commitment to the American public and sends a clear message to those who engage in these types of egregious acts.”
DEA St. Louis led the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Hudson prosecuted the case.
