Teen Targeted Elderly With Drugs to Feed Prescription Habit

O'Fallon Police said Alex Stigall and Jermel Higgins worked together to identify an older person getting a prescription they wanted, and Stigall grabbed the medication in the O'Fallon Walmart parking lot.

Two teens worked together to grab a prescription from a 69-year-old woman after she left the Walmart pharmacy in O’Fallon. Patch reported earlier that Alex Michael Stigall, 18, of the 4000 block of Southridge Drive in St. Peters, and Jermel Higgins, 18, of the 300 block of San Juan Drive in St. Charles, were charged Thursday for physically taking property from a victim. O’Fallon Police said Stigall and Higgins sat in the Walmart pharmacy at 1307 Highway K, and Higgins pointed out a woman who was getting a prescription they wanted. Stigall followed her out to the parking lot, came up behind her, ripped the bag out of the 69-year-old woman’s hands and ran off towards his car, police said. He later hid the prescription in a bush near his car…

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O'Fallon Crime Round-Up: Woman Indicted for Selling Meth, Police Search For Copper Thieves

Check out recent police activity in O'Fallon.

If you missed anything earlier this week, here's a round-up of this week's crime news. Sign up for the O'Fallon Patch newsletter to get news, blogs and more sent directly to your email!

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Woman Indicted for Selling Meth, Drug Possession

A St. Charles County Drug Task Force investigation found a stash of drugs in the woman's floor vent several months after she sold meth to an undercover officer.

A O’Fallon woman was indicted by a St. Charles County grand jury Friday on eight drug charges. The woman, Lisa Ann Ray, 44, was indicted on two counts of distributing a controlled substance, five counts of possessing a controlled substance and possessing drug-related items. St. Charles County Drug Task Force detectives said Ray sold methamphetamine to an undercover officer June 7 at 281 Mid Rivers Mall Drive in St. Peters. Detectives searched her home in the first block of Green Tree Lane in O’Fallon Sept. 11 and said they found several items hidden in a bag inside a floor vent. Among the items found in the bag were: Ray posted 10 percent of a $15,000 bond and was released from jail Nov. 28. For more crime information on O'Fallon Patch, …

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Woman Raids Crash Cart at St. Joseph West Hospital for Drugs, Police Say

The woman told police she was in town to face drug charges.

A woman who told police she was in town to face drug charges attempted to steal narcotics from SSM St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake Saint Louis Dec. 2. Lake Saint Louis Police said a witness saw Jessica Puglisi, 25, breaking into a crash cart at the hospital and taking 15 vials of various medications, putting them in her purse and bra. Puglisi, formerly of O'Fallon, was charged Monday with misdemeanor theft. Her last known address was in the 2300 block of Oak Brook Drive in O’Fallon. Puglisi told police she had come back to town from Los Angeles to appear in court to face drug charges. Police searched her purse and found a glass pipe and paperclip, each with residue. Bail was set at $20,000 cash only for Puglisi. For more crime information…

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O'Fallon Woman Stole Needles, Drugs from Hospital Biohazard Container

Jamie Pohl, 27, was a former employee. She told police she's addicted to pain medication after she was caught stealing syringes and drugs from Progress West Healthcare Center in O'Fallon.

Security guards caught a former Progress West Healthcare Center employee stealing drugs and syringes from a locked biohazard container on a surgery floor Thursday, O’Fallon Police said. The woman, Jamie M. Pohl, 27, of the first block of Lamplighter Lane in O’Fallon, was fired from Progress West in January 2011, and was given a trespassing warning by the hospital. Pohl was charged Friday with stealing a controlled substance and illegally possessing a controlled substance. O’Fallon Police said Pohl ran when confronted by security guards and discarded a plastic bag with many vials as she ran away. The vials contained fentanyl and hydromorphone. Pohl told police she is addicted to hydromorphone and other pain medications, and confessed to …

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Man Sells Fake Heroin to Cop, Gets Arrested Anyway

Ryan Beasley told police he sold the fake heroin so he could buy heroin for himself. The St. Charles man is being charged with selling an "imitation controlled substance."

A St. Charles man sold two pieces of gravel to an undercover detective, telling him the rocks were raw heroin. A St. Charles County Drug Task Force report said the man doctored the gravel to resemble heroin. A close visual inspection and field tests revealed the substance was not heroin, detectives said. Ryan T. Beasley, 29, of the 1200 block of Lakeshore Drive in St. Charles, was charged Wednesday, with delivery of an imitation controlled substance. Detectives said the undercover officer met Beasley near Time Centre Apartments in St. Charles and bought the fake heroin from him for $60. Beasley told police he sold the fake heroin so he could buy heroin for himself, according to the report. He was on probation for first-degree burglary and …

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Walgreens Says Many Express Scripts Customers Are Staying Put

The pharmacy chain announced Tuesday that Express Scripts members in metro St. Louis and nationwide are opting to keep their prescriptions at Walgreens.

The Walgreens Prescription Savings Club (PSC) allows eligible patients who have pharmacy benefit plans managed by Express Scripts to avoid switching pharmacies, according to a Walgreens press release. During the month of January, Walgreens is lowering the enrollment fee for the PSC in an effort to encourage Express Scripts members continue to use Walgreens pharmacies when possible, or to make a smoother transition to another local pharmacy. In June, Walgreens announced it was parting ways with Express Scripts, a metro-St. Louis based pharmacy benefit manager.  Kermit Crawford, Walgreens president of Pharmacy, Health and Wellness Solutions and Services, expressed frustration with Express Scripts and the company's "decision to reject our …

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O'Fallon Resident Arrested For Involvement in Heroin Traffic Ring

FBI St. Louis Division’s Safe Streets Gang Task Force arrested 10 members of the drug organization. Each member faces federal charges.

Deadly Trend: Heroin Use on the Rise in St. Charles, St. Louis Counties

The Community Council of St. Charles County hosts a summit dealing with dangerous drugs and shares resources.

How can an adult spot a teenager who's hooked on heroin? That was one question that arose during the Community Services Summit Tuesday. One high school counselor told Dr. Mary Case, chief medical examiner for St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin counties, she doesn't know how to recognize students who are using heroin. The counselor asked Case, “What do they look like?” “Well, the ones I see are dead,” said Case, who acts as coroner for the four counties. Case, who spoke at the 13th Annual Community Services Summit at Harvester Christian Churchin St. Charles County, told participants that heroin deaths in St. Louis and St. Charles counties are on the rise. Dealing with an epidemic The Community Council of St. Charles County hosts…

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St. Charles County Bans Hallucinogenic 'Bath Salt' Drugs

Synthetic chemical use blamed for attack in St. Peters, suicide attempts and nine deaths nationwide.

The package may read “bath salts,” but parents, health and law officials say it’s a dangerous hallucinogenic drug--and it was legal in St. Charles County until last night. Synthetic drugs called Ivory Wave, Ivory Snow, Cloud Nine, Bliss and Vanilla Sky have been sold in at least four St. Charles County stores labeled bath salts, but the products’ intended use is to be snorted, smoked or swallowed to get high. “I have a very dear loved one who used it,” Sandy Walters, of O’Fallon, told St. Charles County Council members. “What I witnessed, I hope none of you ever have to witness.” Walters said her loved one “hears voices, and the doctors can’t guarantee the voices will ever go away. You hope they do.” The county council passed an emergency …

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