INMATE WHO DIED HAD HISTORY OF COMMITTING CRIME FOR PAINKILLERS

Waukesha - A man with a history of robbing pharmacies for narcotics showed
signs of drug withdrawal when he held up a pharmacy hours before he died in
the Waukesha County Jail. Authorities identified the man as Jay C.
Italiano, who they say used a knife to rob a Brookfield pharmacy where he
demanded the painkiller OxyContin."He was certainly in an agitated state,"
pharmacist Tom Bull said. "I had no doubt he would have used the
knife."Bull said Italiano knew exactly what he wanted when he demanded
80-milligram tablets of OxyContin, the highest available.

He left the Aurora Woodside Pharmacy, in the 13000 block of W. Capitol
Drive, at just after 6 p.m. Friday with at least five bottles of the drug,
Bull said.OxyContin is typically prescribed for people suffering chronic
pain, Bull said. People with cancer or back pain benefit from the drug
because it can provide 12 hours of pain relief.Multiple doses ingested at
once, however, would be enough to kill a person, Bull said.Italiano, 30,
was arrested in Wauwatosa shortly after the robbery, based on witness
descriptions of the robber and his car. Police said they believed he was
homeless.He told officers that he was suffering from drug withdrawal and
was taken to Elmbrook Memorial Hospital in Brookfield, where doctors
treated and released him.Sheriff William Kruziki was out of the office
Monday and could not be reached for comment.

Checks Made

After leaving the hospital, Italiano was booked into the County Jail
shortly after midnight and checked every 30 minutes, Detective Steve
Pederson said.At 6 a.m. Saturday, he was found unresponsive in his jail
cell, and officials tried to resuscitate him. He was taken to Waukesha
Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:52 a.m.An autopsy done
Monday showed the cause of death to be inconclusive, said Jennifer
Schroeder, deputy medical examiner. Toxicology and other tests are pending,
she said.Elmbrook Memorial Hospital spokesman Gigi Rutkowski said the
hospital stands by its decision to release Italiano.She said medical
personnel treated him and kept him under observation for three hours."He
was alert, responsive and cooperative," Rutkowski said. "His medical status
was stable and unchanged from the time he arrived until he was cleared."We
believe the medical care was appropriate, and we're proud of our emergency
department," Rutkowski said.According to court records, Friday was not the
first time Italiano was accused of committing a crime to obtain
painkillers.Italiano, then 20 and living in Brookfield, was arrested in
October 1991 on suspicion of calling in a false prescription to a Butler
pharmacy to get Vicodin.He posed as a doctor's representative and made up a
patient's name for the prescription, according to a criminal complaint.

An employee became suspicious, called the doctor's office and learned that
it was a fraud, the complaint says.When Italiano arrived to pick up the
Vicodin pills, police arrested him.He spent three weeks in an inpatient
substance abuse treatment center in Waukesha and later pleaded guilty to
felony attempted possession of a controlled substance by fraud.He was
sentenced to 30 months on probation.

Robberies Committed

Three months into his probation, Italiano robbed a Hales Corners pharmacy
at gunpoint for Percocet, another painkiller."I don't want to hurt anyone.

I want Percocet," Italiano told the pharmacist, according to a report
prepared by his probation agent.He fled with a bottle of the drug. Two
months later, he robbed the same Hales Corners pharmacy.

He demanded a bigger bottle of pills and fled with it.A week later, he was
arrested and jailed.

His agent told the court that when she had met with Italiano before the
robberies, he told her he was clean, had gone to Narcotics Anonymous
meetings and didn't have a drug problem.His agent revoked his probation on
the prescription fraud case, and the judge in December 1992 sent him
instead to prison for two years. That same year, he was sentenced to seven
years in prison for the pharmacy robberies.Italiano's family declined to
comment Monday.Sheriff's Deputy Inspector Daniel Trawicki said Italiano's
death was a "terribly unfortunate incident for the individual and the family."