SKOWHEGAN — More than $1,000 in prescription medication belonging to homeless men staying at a local shelter was stolen from a locked church cabinet over the weekend, according to police.
The burglary and theft was reported around 6 a.m. Sunday by a man who lives and works at Trinity Men’s Shelter, which is operated by the Trinity Evangelical Free Church on McClellan Street, Skowhegan Police Chief Ted Blais said. The investigation is ongoing and police said they have a suspect.
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The stolen drugs included “all sorts of prescription medications” were stolen from a locked cabinet in a church office, Blais said. People staying at the men-only shelter are not allowed to keep drugs on their person, so any medication prescribed for their use is kept in the locked cabinet for distribution at specific times of day, he said.
About 30 men staying at the shelter have medication that is held in the cabinet, he said.
“I’m sure it’s a problem for them,” Blais said. “Each of those people is a victim of this theft. They will have to contact their doctors and the doctors will have to rewrite new prescriptions. It’s not easy.”
The locked cabinet was in a locked office inside the locked church building, said Pastor Richard Berry, of Trinity Evangelical Free Church.
Both the cabinet and drugs were taken, although the cabinet was later found pried open and damaged in a nearby field, according to Blais. All the drugs were gone.
“We are working on getting the drugs replaced,” Berry said. “We don’t know a lot about what happened. Everything is replaceable, and we are working on it with the Skowhegan police.”
Berry said he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the drugs were taken by someone affiliated with or staying at the shelter. The shelter, which has served the Skowhegan area since 2008 and is working toward expansion to serve women and children, is run mainly by volunteers who are staying at the shelter.
There was no damage done to the church building or the office in Sunday’s burglary, Blais said.
“It’s not a random person,” he said.
Rachel Ohm — 612-2368
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