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Robbery suspect gets trial with judge

LISBON — An Indianapolis, Ind., man charged in connection to an armed robbery at the Buckeye Pharmacy in Calcutta in September of 2017, was tried directly to the bench on Monday before Judge Scott Washam.

Tyrez L. Boyd, 25, is charged with aggravated robbery and three counts of abduction for allegedly tying up three pharmacy employees before forcing them into a bathroom on Sept. 27, 2017.

All three women — pharmacist Bridget Bajek and pharmacy techs Leah Kelly and Deanna Dutch — were among those who took the stand to describe both the day before the robbery and the events the morning of the robbery.

On the day before the robbery, the women believed a shorter black woman may have cased the store, when she came in asking for an HIV test and then proceeded to suspiciously rise on her tiptoes to look at the things behind the counters. She left without buying anything.

All three employees said they knew most of the customers who came to the Buckeye Pharmacy, but Kelly and Dutch both said they had not seen this woman before. They also did not know the two men who entered the store separately the next morning.

The women testified one of the men came into the store acting as if he was looking to pick up a prescription for someone, but then pulled out a gun and ordered the employees to the floor, first behind the counter and then moved them out near a pop machine onto the floor.

Two of the women testified he kicked over a small child’s table set and they all believed he may have contacted the other man by text, because he entered the store. While two of the women kept their heads down on the floor, Bajek was taken behind the counter and told to get the opioids. She began unlocking the cabinets where those drugs were kept. One of the men grabbed a black trick or treat bag, which was being sold at the time, so the drugs could be carried out.

Bajek said the man told her not to try anything, stating he had their ID’s. He asked her to open one cabinet, which said oxycodone, but the lock was broken and it was only storing rubbing alcohol at that point. He asked for Tussinex and was upset when Bajek explained they did not have any. She stated he wanted her to open a vault in the back, which had been there from when the building served as a bank. Bajek explained they did not use that vault. She testified he continued to throw things onto the floor.

“Leah and I were still on the mat and I began to get upset, so Leah grabbed my hand,” Dutch testified. “That’s when (one of the men) said ‘Don’t play hero. You’re going to get to go home to your family.”

According to the testimony, after taking the opioids located in one of the cabinets, the men proceeded to tie the women up with their hands behind their backs using zipties. The women were placed into a bathroom and waited until a short time after they heard the bell indicating someone had opened the front door. Bajek said she checked out and did not see the men. At that point, the employees, who had slipped their zipties, were able to run out the back, dashing for the Home Savings Bank nearby.

Other testimony came from Gary Felger, who happened to park nearby in the lot at Ogilvie Plaza after his medical appointment at the VA facility. He had parked so he could grab a coffee at the McDonald’s and noticed a dark colored vehicle with dark windows sitting in a suspicious place. When he returned with his coffee, he saw the vehicle had pulled up right behind his vehicle, although there were no other vehicles in the immediate area. He thought the one person inside meant to rob him.

However, the vehicle drove quickly back over near the pharmacy and two men ran out and got in. He described them similar to the description given by the women inside the store — black and wearing dark clothes. Although the women stated at least one of the men had most of his face covered.

Felger said he followed the vehicle as it pulled out onto state Route 170, weaved through traffic at the intersection, headed up St. Clair Avenue and turned right onto McGuffey Drive. He stopped following them at some point before reaching Dresden Avenue, turning back to return to the pharmacy to see what had happened. Because of a “smoky” plastic cover on the plate, he was not able to make it out.

Later two pill bottles of large quantities were found discarded near the Walmart entrance on Dresden Avenue. Ohio BCI forensic scientist Rachel Keaton testified she found the thumb print of Tyrez Boyd on one of the bottles.

St. Clair Township Detective Troy Walker, who currently works for the prosecutor’s office, admitted to defense attorney James Wise he could not prove that bottle came from the Buckeye Pharmacy. However, Bajek testified 500 pills in one bottle are considered larger quantities and are not prescribed at once. Those pill bottles matched the description of some of the drugs on a list provided to the Drug Enforcement Administration as taken during the robbery.

Wise said he did not believe the evidence showed it was Boyd inside the pharmacy, noting no witnesses could identify him and there was no proof that bottle came from that pharmacy.

Chief Assistant County Prosecutor John Gamble said not only was there fingerprint evidence, but cell phone records show Boyd, who is actually from western Ohio, was in Cadiz about an hour before the robbery.

Washam has taken the case under consideration and will issue a verdict at a later time.

Boyd is currently serving a 42-year sentence for a similar robbery in Clark County Ohio, where two men with a gun tied up six employees and robbed the Springfield store.

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