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But this theft included an added element of danger — a potent medication that can be lethal even in small doses. Rogue River Pharmacy was broken into about 4 a.m. Monday and Franck's Compounding Pharmacy in Medford was hit about an hour and a half later. The Medford case included the theft a painkiller that can be deadly if used incorrectly. The two break-ins bring to five the number of pharmacy burglaries reported in Jackson and Josephine counties in the past three months, said Medford police Lt. Tim Doney. Investigators are looking at the string of burglaries as possibly related crimes. "There has been a rash of these," Rogue River Police Chief Ken Lewis said. A Rogue River police officer responded to an alarm at Rogue River Pharmacy, 500 E. Main St., at 4 a.m. Monday, two minutes after the alarm sounded, Lewis said. The officer found the glass front door shattered by a piece of asphalt, but no one in or near the business, Lewis said. Advertisement Another Rogue River officer, an Oregon State Police trooper and a Jackson County sheriff's deputy arrived to help search the premises, Lewis said. Inside the store, the burglars had broken two heavy glass doors to the pharmacy, stolen an undisclosed amount of narcotics and searched through a safe. "There was plenty of property damage and theft," pharmacy owner Garvin Hamilton said. At about 5:30 a.m., an alarm summoned Medford police to Franck's Compounding Pharmacy, 940 Ellendale Drive. Patrol officers arrived within five minutes, but the burglars were gone, Doney said. Upon reviewing surveillance tapes, investigators determined that two burglars broke a glass door to get into the pharmacy, which creates custom medications from drug chemicals. They pried a black, Ace brand safe like those used to store guns from the wall and fled. The safe contained hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone — all painkillers; ketamine, an anesthetic sometimes used as a painkiller; and fentanyl, a powerful opiate painkiller that can be lethal even in small doses. The drugs were primarily in powdered form for use in making custom medications, although some were pills and capsules, Doney said. The estimated street value of the drugs reached "several hundred thousand dollars," he said. Investigators expressed particular concern that street users might not understand the potency of the powders, especially of the fentanyl, and could be at high risk of overdoses. One of the two suspects who broke into the Medford pharmacy was wearing a light-colored, hooded sweatshirt, Doney said. No other description was available. Rogue River police said they had contacted three suspicious people walking around downtown at about 12:30 a.m. and want to talk to them again about the burglary, Lewis said. The two men and one woman were white, in their 20s and one of the men carried an orange umbrella, he said. They were last seen on foot walking towards Wards Creek. Prior to Monday's burglaries, a break-in and narcotics theft was reported in early January at Rogue Valley Medical Center's Asante Health System pharmacy on East Barnett Road. Medford police said the burglars snatched nearly 10,000 pain pills in that heist. Doney said both the Josephine County Sheriff's Department and the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety have open investigations on recent pharmacy break-ins. He didn't have details on those cases, but said in all the Jackson County burglaries, the criminals had been in and out fairly quickly and had targeted only controlled substances. Would you like to respond to this story? If so Click Here to visit our forums. Advertisement Copyright © 1997-2007 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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