In Rochester, NH, Douglas Gray, 37, was arrested for his connection with recent robberies of oxycodone from pharmacies. He was charged with two counts of robbery in connection with incidents at the Rite Aid Pharmacy in Farmington on Dec. 29, 2008 and the Rite Aid Pharmacy in Rochester on Feb. 9. Over the past couple months a number of law enforcement agencies have worked together and were able to identify Gray’s residence and were about to arrest him without incident. According to officials, after he was arrested he was transported to Frisbie Hospital after complaining of an injury to his ankle that is believed to have occurred on April 3 when police said he fled from authorities in Maine. The incidents that occurred on April 3 took place when officers in Berwick, Maine were arresting Jocelyn Brown, Gray’s accomplice. Brown was arrested on warrants for conspiracy to commit robbery in the pharmacy robbery in Farmington and criminal liability for the Rochester robbery.
In class on March 25th we discussed robberies and different characteristics about them and when looking at this situation there are a number of components that are addressed that we have previous addressed in class, the first being the severity of the robbery. According to what we have learned in class, most of the robberies committed are minor and usually amount to less than $1,000. In this case, although Gray is not stealing money, he most likely in either of his robberies was not able to get away with more than $1,000 worth of the drug. The next aspect of this report is the socio-economic status in which the robber is labeled. It is not made clear in the article whether this man is lower or upper class, but by looking at his mug shot and looking at the contents in which he stole, I think it is safe to assume to that this man is of lower socio-economic status and according to typology of robbers, people of lower socio-economic status are more likely to commit such a crime. Therefore he may have been stealing to drugs to then turn around and sell them to make a little extra money for himself and his accomplice. The last component that stands out in this article is the significance on the good in which he stole. When trying to assume what Gray’s motivations were for this robbery, by looking at what he stole, it might be safe to assume that he may have had an addiction to the drug and because of his low socio-economic status he could not buy them off the street so he need to find an alternative way of acquiring the drug. This is significant because in Conklin’s typology of robbers an addiction could be a motivation for robbing because the individual may need to rob to support their habit.