MAN ACCUSED IN DRUG HOLDUP

He Claims His Wife Needs Oxycontin To Ease Cancer Pain

Cudahy - A man is accused of trying to rob a Walgreens pharmacy of its
supply of the painkiller OxyContin to help his wife, who he told police has
cancer and back problems.

But Kevin D. May of Cudahy returned the drugs after the pharmacist followed
him outside, police said.

May, 34, told police he had been out of work for five months and didn't
have health insurance.

Other area pharmacies, including ones in Wauwatosa, Glendale, Franklin and
Racine, have been the targets of robberies and forged prescriptions
involving OxyContin in the past four months.

A court scheduling hearing in the case is set for Thursday.

In the June 10 incident, May handed a note to the pharmacist at Walgreens,
5809 S. Packard Ave., that said, "Give me all your OxyContin, do it right
away, and you won't get hurt," said Capt. Richard Wargin of the Cudahy
Police Department.

The pharmacist handed May eight bottles, each containing 100 pills, in a
brown bag.

May wore a baseball cap and held a hand over his face while in the store,
Wargin said.

After May left the store, the pharmacist followed him out, and May
approached a maroon van. May saw the pharmacist and returned the drugs,
saying he was sorry.

The pharmacist wrote down May's license number. When police went to his
house, May was very cooperative, Wargin said.

"(The cancer) is a motive, but I can't feel sorry for the man," Wargin
said, adding that he couldn't confirm that the wife had cancer.

May was charged with one count of robbery by threat of force.

Police never found a weapon, although a witness in the parking lot said she
thought May had a gun.

Wargin said he thinks May had second thoughts of following through on the
robbery when the pharmacist saw him in the parking lot.

"He knew his identity was exposed, and he probably figured he was caught
red-handed," Wargin said. "Maybe he thought if he gave it back, he wouldn't
be prosecuted."

But that doesn't discount that it is against the law, he added.

Wisconsin online court records indicate May has a record of minor offenses.
He pleaded no contest and was found guilty in March of misdemeanor
possession of a controlled substance.

He's also been convicted twice in the past five years of operating a
vehicle after revocation of his license, and had two convictions in 1997
for operating under the influence of an intoxicant.

The June 10 incident was the second reported recently in Cudahy that could
involve OxyContin. A Cudahy teen was found dead of a probable overdose on
June 6, although police still have not confirmed the cause of death.