Trail of empty pill bottles led cops to Florida robbery suspects

In Florida, sheriff's officials say a trail of pill bottles stolen from a Florida pharmacy led detectives to a home where they encountered two men who matched descriptions of robbers seen on surveillance video.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office says the two men and a third accomplice robbed a CVS in Clearwater, Florida at about 5 in the morning on New Year's Day. They waved guns at employees and tied up several of them with zip ties, say authorities.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that the trio stole 10,000 pills containing the opioids hydrocodone and oxycodone, with a street value of about $320,000.

From the AP:

But they left behind some obvious clues. First, the surveillance video captured the men and a white Chrysler 200 fleeing the scene. And apparently the men emptied pills from bottles, which they tossed out the window as they drove home, the newspaper reported.

Detectives followed the trail of pill bottles to a home where they found two of the men, sheriff's officials said.

Investigators said the three men had planned the robbery, even staking the location out the day before, the Times reported. Detectives saw one of the men casing the store in the surveillance video they reviewed, officials said.

The two men - Christopher Rachell Jr., 19, and David Dobbins, 19 - were arrested Jan. 1. They also matched the descriptions of the robbers seen inside the store, detectives said.