SANATOGA PA – Police are continuing to investigate a broad-daylight robbery that occurred Tuesday morning (Jan. 3, 2012) inside the CVS Pharmacy at East High Street and Sunnybrook Road, Sanatoga, during which a man who “postured as if he had a gun in his coat pocket” took an undisclosed amount of narcotics and fled the store reportedly two minutes before law enforcers arrived.

No employees or customers were injured during the event, investigators said.

The CVS Pharmacy on East High Street in Sanatoga

Police are hunting for a male subject of indeterminate age, who at the time was concealed by a black, fur-lined coat with its hood pulled up, red gloves, large-framed sunglasses, and a short-brimmed hat.

Video surveillance footage from the store may yield more information as the probe proceeds, but anyone with knowledge of the incident is now being urged to call the Lower Pottsgrove Police Department at 610-326-1508.

The crime unfolded at about 10:30 a.m., according to witness reports gathered by department Det. Joe Campbell and Ofc. Ryan Smith, as the suspect entered the pharmacy area of the store and presented what was described as a “demand note” to the pharmacist and pharmacy technician on duty. It said the suspect was armed, and requested specific narcotics; the names of the drugs, and the quantity taken are not being released.

Pharmacy workers, who told police it looked like the man held a hidden weapon, did as the note ordered. As they piled the drugs into a white CVS-branded bag and handed them over, someone reported the robbery-in-progress.

Police arrived within two speedy minutes of the dispatch, Campbell and Smith reported. The robber, apparently, was quicker. Witnesses claimed he ran from the store, bag in hand, and escaped.

Officers patrolling nearby made an investigative stop shortly afterward of a man walking in the 2000 block of East High Street, but later determined he was not the suspect and released him.

The robber may have been checking out the surrounding area before his act, police noted. Witnesses told them they earlier saw the subject “walking around to the rear of the store, between the Sunnybrook Village townhouse development and the CVS.”

Officers from the Pottstown and Limerick police departments provided assistance at the scene, Campbell and Smith said.

Other coverage:

• Police seek man in Lower Pottsgrove CVS robbery (The Mercury)
• Robber makes off with drugs from pharmacy (WFMZ-TV)