A Sudbury man who admitted to stealing thousands of addictive prescription pills during a pharmacy break and enter eight months ago will find out early in the new year how long he will be in jail.
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James Watkinson, 24, pleaded guilty this week to two counts of break and enter and four counts of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. Another dozen charges were dropped.
The pills stolen during an early morning break-in, included Â?very dangerousÂ? drugs used to sedate and ease pain in terminally ill patients, said federal Crown prosecutor Robert Topp.
Court heard Watkinson and his co-accused Michael Lepage tried to break into a pharmacy in Walden around 3 am on April 16, but ran away after breaking a huge pane of glass to gain entry when an alarm went off.
They proceeded to a second pharmacy and used a crow bar to break into a door and smashed another pane of glass to get inside. They filled two packsacks full of high-powered prescription drugs.
Police received a description of the vehicle leaving the scene and stopped the vehicle in Sudbury. An officer noticed two packsacks Â?bulgingÂ? with narcotics.
The original retail value of the drugs is $110,000, but the wholesale price is just over $85,000, said Topp.
Watkinson was released out of custody until his sentencing hearing Jan. 6. Lepage, 21, was sentenced in late May to a 30-month federal penitentiary sentence for his role in the break, enter and thefts.
Lepage was a prohibited driver and part of his sentence included a three-year driving prohibition from the time heÂ?s released from the penitentiary.
