A Florida man handed a note to workers at an Orlando CVS saying he didn’t want to hurt anyone – but he’d “shoot the closest person” — if they didn’t hand over the prescription drugs he wanted, cops say.
Thomas Mues, 23, allegedly gave the handwritten note to pharmacy workers at the store on Curry Ford Road about 6 p.m. Oct. 20, according to WFLA News Channel 8 in Tampa.
Just below his dire warning — which was written in black marker — the brazen robber scrawled a detailed shopping list of the drugs he was looking for, including specific dosages of oxycodone, hydrocodone, Xanax, Adderall, Viagra and liquid codeine, authorities said.
“THIS IS A ARMED ROBBERY!!!,” the note read, according to the Orlando police.
“Please cooperate, I don’t want to hurt you. You are not to alarm anybody or I will shoot the closest person to me! Please follow these directions or I will shoot the closest person to me!”
The pharmacist technician who dealt with Mues said she didn’t realize the store was being robbed at first and kept asking him routine questions — while he kept telling her to read the note, according to Law & Crime.
Once she realized the danger, she handed the note to the pharmacist, who gathered the drugs and put them in a brown bag.
Mues — who wore a hat and surgical mask during the crime — made off with close to 2,500 pills, the website said.
But the robbery quickly went south for the would-be outlaw.
Cops rolled up just as Mues was leaving the store and ran after him, the station said. They eventually caught up and soon had the alleged crook in bracelets.
The suspect still allegedly had the note and the narcotics on him, according to WFLA.
Cops said Mues later admitted traveling from Jacksonville to Orlando to rip the pharmacy off — and that he confessed to a similar robbery in central Florida.
Authorities have hit him with a slew of charges including robbery, trafficking and possession offenses, WFLA said.
Witnesses said Mues kept his hands in his pockets the entire time and did not flash a gun, according to the website.
The bandit later wrote an apology letter that was included in his affidavit, according to Law & Crime.
“It was not my intention to hurt anybody inside nor did I have a weapon on me,” he wrote.
“I know this may have been traumatizing for everybody inside and I just wanted to apologize and let it be known that I will be helping bring it to an end.”
The site said Mues is being held without bond in the Orange County Jail.
