AUGUSTA — Police have arrested a suspect in a city pharmacy robbery that had gone unsolved for more than five years.

Dustin L. DeGreenia, 28, of Farmingdale, was arrested Thursday afternoon and charged with robbing the Rite Aid Pharmacy on North Belfast Avenue on May 4, 2012, a time when police were dealing with a spate of drug store robberies in Kennebec County.

DeGreenia was in front of judge Friday at the Capital Judicial Center via video from the county jail. His bail was set at $300 cash or $1,000 worth of property, and he is due in court next on Nov. 7.

An affidavit by Augusta police Detective Chris Blodgett, filed at the court in support of an arrest warrant for DeGreenia, details the robbery that afternoon, in which a robber passed a badly spelled note to a pharmacy technician telling her he wanted oxycodone pills.

“I have a gun,” the note read, according to Blodgett’s account.

Once the robber received three bottles of oxycodone, he went out of the store and into the woods on the building’s north side, where, police believed, he got into a white car.

Later, witnesses described the robber as 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8, 120 to 130 pounds, and wearing a dark, hooded, zippered, sweatshirt, tan work boots and dark pants as well as a fake beard.

They told police they initially saw the man get in line at the pharmacy counter, leave the store and then return before exiting again.

Another witness reported driving into the pharmacy parking lot and almost being clipped by a white vehicle that was speeding away from the lot.

The affidavit describes the investigation, including information gleaned from those who socialized with DeGreenia and reported hearing him bragging about robbing pharmacies.

One man told them DeGreenia described wearing a wig, makeup and a fake mustache, then burning his clothes in the Summerhaven pits. Later, the same man, who was in custody, said DeGreenia and three others rented a room at the Senator Inn & Spa with cash that night.

A woman who had been with DeGreenia at the hotel that night later told police the pharmacy robbery had been the idea of a second man, who said it was a way to get money to have a good time. She said the fake reddish beard was purchased at iParty.

The woman — who apparently drove the getaway car — said DeGreenia got scared when he first went into the store, so he came out and got a pep talk via phone from the other man. Then Degreenia committed the robbery, ran back to the car and got into the trunk, she told police.

Some of the stolen pills were sold for $25 each, which one confidential informant told police was cheaper than usual.

One of DeGreenia’s former girlfriends told police DeGreenia taped over his tattoos before he committed the robbery.

The affidavit indicates interviews about the robbery were being conducted up through Jan. 12, 2016.

The charge carries a maximum prison term of up to 10 years.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams