Bail set for suspect in CVS drug robbery

Just one week after the Medford pharmacy massacre, workers in a CVS pharmacy in Farmingville were petrified when a man demanded painkillers and cash from them, a Suffolk prosecutor said Wednesday in court.

"Obviously, the pharmacy technician and everyone had nothing on their minds but the quadruple homicide in Medford," Assistant District Attorney Patricia Brosco said as she asked for high bail for Patrick O'Donnell, 22, of Ronkonkoma, indicted on a charge of third-degree robbery in the June 26 incident.

Defense attorney Rudolph Migliore said the Medford case "is what exacerbates the situation here," but said his client's case is nothing like that of David Laffer's, the man charged with killing four people June 19 in Medford.

"There was no violence," Migliore said. "My client surrendered himself."

He asked for lower bail, noting that O'Donnell's family has arranged for drug treatment if he could make bail. But State Supreme Court Justice Mark Cohen kept bail at $200,000 cash or $400,000 bond.

Brosco said O'Donnell first entered the store and asked a technician if the pharmacy had Suboxone, which is prescribed to drug addicts to wean them off narcotics. He left and returned with a note, Brosco said.

"Give me all your oxycodone and morphine and cash," the note said, according to Brosco. "And crush the tablets. You have 30 seconds or someone will get hurt."

SEE PHOTOSNotable LI crimes

Brosco said O'Donnell left with 609 oxycodone pills and $214 in cash.

After an "overwhelming" response from the public when a video of the robbery was released, O'Donnell turned himself in.

Migliore said his client became addicted to pain pills after suffering a wrestling injury in high school.