Published: July 01, 2008 01:06 am            

CRIME: Lockport man charged with stealing pills

A Lockport man has been accused of breaking into a neighbor’s house to steal hydrocodone.

Paul Luke Sharkey, 59, 1086 Ridgewood Drive, was charged Saturday with burglary and petit larceny.

A Ridgewood Drive man told deputies he left his home about 12 p.m. to go to Artpark for his daughter’s graduation. When he was about halfway there, the man realized he’d forgotten the tickets for the graduation and returned home to get them.

The man’s 21-year-old son ran into the house to get the tickets, and when he came back out, Sharkey was right behind him, the report said.

The son told deputies he entered the kitchen and found Sharkey going through the cabinet where they keep their medication.

The man confronted Sharkey, who allegedly said he was checking on the man’s dog and asked to borrow the weed whacker. The man told Sharkey to leave the yard, and his son called police, the report said.

The man’s wife told deputies she’d been taking hydrocodone after back surgery and had noticed her pills had been gradually disappearing. She reportedly said she now believes Sharkey had entered the house to steal the pills several times.

Sheriff’s Capt. Steven Preisch said theft of prescription drugs has become a more common problem in recent years, affecting “people of all ages and backgrounds.”

“It’s not specific to a group, or a gender or a social class,” Preisch said.

        

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