The House Courts & Criminal Code Committee heard Rep. Negele’s HB 1312 on pharmacy robbery. The bill defines a new level 4 felony crime of pharmacy robbery as the taking of a controlled substance from a pharmacist acting in an official capacity or a pharmacy. Additionally, the offense becomes a level 2 felony if it involved the use of a deadly weapon or causes bodily injury to any person other than the defendant during the robbery and a level 1 felony if it causes serious bodily injury to any person other than the defendant during the robbery. The author explained that bill is intended address high rate of pharmacy robberies committed in Indiana for the purposes of obtaining controlled substances.
Senator Grooms and representatives from Substance Abuse Prevention and Enforcement, the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor’s Office, the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, the Indiana Retail Council, the Commercial Robbery Unit of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and the Indiana Pharmacies Alliance testified in support of the bill. A representative from the Indiana Public Defender Council opposed the bill arguing that it increases the penalty disproportionately to other more serious criminal offenses in the absence of any evidence that shows that an enhanced penalty will increase deterrence. The bill passed 8-1.
Read the bill at: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2017/bills/house/1312