UPDATE: Guilty plea in pharmacy robbery case -Drugstore Cowboy' author James Fogle, 74, pleaded guilty this morning to Robbery First Degree with a Firearm Enhancement for robbing a pharmacy in Redmond on May 25, 2010.
Fogle is scheduled for sentencing on March 4 at 1 p.m. before King County Superior Court Judge Dean Lum at the King County Courthouse, courtroom E-713.
The sentence range is 189 to 231 months in prison.
---------------STORY FROM 3/31/10----------------
Pharmacy break-in linked to notorious burglar who wrote a book about his crimes.
In the 1989 movie, "Drugstore Cowboy", Matt Dillon stars as a character based on the notorious pharmacy burglar James Fogle.
The film was based on a book Fogle wrote about his life. It's about a group of drug users in the 70's hitting stores in the Pacific Northest.
Now the, Centralia police say the 73-year-old burglar is back in action knocking off stores again.
Detective Carl Buster tells Washington's Most Wanted Host David Rose they believe Fogle was part of a brazen heist at Hall's Pharmacy in January of 2009.
"They locked themselves in the bathroom of the adjacent grocery store and basically took a saw and sawed their way through -- and came out in the pharmacy," Buster said.
"Quite frankly, you do have to appreciate his tehcnique. It's a pretty slick deal," says owner Warren Hall. "I think they were a lot better carpenters than they were finding the drugs because we actually had them locked in a safe. They got some money. They got some drugs, but not what they were looking for."
The burglary happened on a Sunday morning while the grocery store was open, but the pharmacy was closed. Hall says, "He's a little bit amazing in that he had no way out. He drilled through this hole and that was the only way he was going to get back out again was going back out the exact same way he came in."
While they didn't score big, Detective Buster says they left behind some disgusting evidence.
"I figured with all the drywall dust, they were probably blowing their nose so I called the state lab and asked if they could get DNA off of snot and the scientists laughed and said yeah and said send me the stuff so I did."
The lab was able to identify Marvin Flowers-Roscoe, who was arrested March 30, 2010.
Buster says he's linked Fogle to the burglary as well.
He says the "Drugstore Cowboy" isn't going to stop and adds Fogle loves the notoriety.
"Oh yeah, if you're gonna write a book about it, I'd say you're pretty proud of it."
If you have any information on the whereabouts of James Fogle, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
Authorities believe he may be in the Pierce County area.
