From left to right:Anthony Bernard Howe Jr., Kendarius Earl Black, Lorenzo Couterry Johnson
Three Alabama men were arrested within several hours after they broke into a pharmacy in Mountain Home early Tuesday morning. Mountain Home Police were first alerted to the break-in by an alarm at 3:08 Tuesday morning at Heartland Pharmacy on South College Street. The three arrested and facing multiple charges are Kendarius Earl Black of Midfield, and Lorenzo Couterry Johnson and Anthony Bernard Howe Jr., both of Bessemer. Police tell KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot News the drugs the men stole carry a street value of $228,000.
According to the probable cause affidavit from the Mountain Home Police Department, when the first officer arrived, he discovered the front door glass was shattered and a sledgehammer was lying just inside the door. Three more officers arrived on scene and the building was checked, but no one was inside. Multiple pill bottles had been knocked from the shelves.
While waiting for someone from the business to arrive so officers could review video footage, Corporal Rocky Morrell and K9 Mick arrived to start tracking. During a search of the area, a man wearing camouflage and a mask jumped out of some nearby bushes and fled on foot. He was tracked by K9 Mick and found at 3:46 lying in the bushes near the former Buddy’s Appliances building on U.S. Highway 62B. He resisted arrest and initially refused to give law enforcement his name, but complied when he requested EMS to check out his chipped tooth and identified himself as Kendarius Black. A white trash bag containing numerous pills was found where Black was originally hiding.
Once law enforcement was able to review surveillance video, they confirmed two men inside the store with both of them carrying bags full of pills.
At 4:42, law enforcement saw a subject matching the description of the second man seen on the video run from the rear of College Manor, less than one block from the pharmacy, towards College Street. Officers and deputies from the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office gave chase and a taser was deployed which proved to be ineffective. Finally the second suspect, Johnson, who also resisted arrest, was taken into custody.
While searching the rear of College Manor, law enforcement found the third suspect, Howe, standing near a back pack. He told officers he was waiting on some friends. He was taken into custody without incident.
The back pack found near Howe contained multiple pill bottles. The white trash bag and back pack were inventoried and found to contain controlled substances, including several thousand dosage units of schedule II and schedule IV narcotics.
Black is on probation in Alabama for homicide out of Jefferson County in 2019 and has a history of robbery and theft.
Johnson has a history of theft-related charges out of Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia,
Each of the three are facing felony charges of theft of property greater than $25,000, commercial burglary, acquiring a schedule II controlled substance by theft, acquiring a schedule IV controlled substance by theft and first degree criminal mischief. Both Black and Johnson also face a misdemeanor charge of fleeing on foot and a penalty enhancement for being a habitual offender. All three are being held in the Baxter County Detention Center with bond set at $75,000 each.
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