A D.C. man was sentenced Tuesday to 26 years in prison for his role in two Montgomery County, Maryland, robberies that cleared locked pharmacy shelves of thousands of opioids and narcotics pills.
Carlos Zackery, 26, and his half brother, Dionte Taylor, 25, held up the staff at a Walgreens in the Bradley Shopping Center in Bethesda on Dec. 23, 2021, clearing the pharmacy’s locked shelves of 5,692 opioids and narcotics pills valued at nearly $16,000, prosecutors said.
A week and a half later, on Jan. 4, 2022, the two men robbed the Giant Food pharmacy near Leisure World in Silver Spring, where a pharmacy clerk activated the silent alarm.
Montgomery County police were able to arrest Zackery and Taylor with 4,950 pills and 1,237 items in their possession described as controlled substances, valued at a total of $33,128.
Zackery pleaded guilty in September 2022 to six armed robberies, nine first-degree assaults, and two conspiracy to commit armed robbery charges. He was sentenced to 100 years in prison with all but the 26 years suspended. He also face five years of supervised probation after his release.
Taylor was sentenced on Jan. 20 to 12 years in prison, after pleading guilty to 13 counts related to the armed robberies.
In a statement, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy noted the bravery of the Silver Spring pharmacy clerk’s actions with the silent alarm. He also praised the actions of the officers.
“In the case of the most recent robbery, officers were able to prevent thousands of narcotics and opioid pills from hitting the streets,” McCarthy said.
