Oxy addict robbed elderly women, court docs say
OxyContin addiction drove a young man to rob elderly women in grocery store parking lots to support his habit, court documents allege.
Ryan X. Burgess, 21, was scheduled to plead innocent today to first-degree robbery, first-degree theft and two counts of second-degree robbery in connection with four incidents in late September.
In each of the cases, the victims said Burgess approached them in a grocery store parking lot and took their purses or demanded money.
One of the alleged victims is a 96-year-old woman who uses a walker, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Burgess told detectives his OxyContin addiction ruined his life and that he used all robbery proceeds to buy pills, according to the affidavit. He remains in Spokane County Jail. Burgess' arraignment came the morning after a couple of strange OxyContin-related reports from law enforcement.
In the first case, a man was shocked with a Taser and arrested after trying to run from police investigating reports of two men preparing to rob the Rite Aid at Argonne and Mission.
Jason M. Kingsley, 28, was due in court today on one charge of third-degree assault against a law enforcement officer. His alleged accomplice remains at large.
In the second case, a would-be robber was hit in the head with a metal bar by an employee at Rite Aid, 12315 N. Highway 395.
The suspected robber, described as a woman wearing heavy makeup or of a Middle Eastern background, handed an employee a note claiming she had a gun and demanding the drug about 8:35 p.m.