Police arrested one man and are still investigating after a string of four robberies in Burlington over the weekend.Brett Boucher was arrested “in a wooded area off of Shelburne Road” on Saturday after he allegedly told Kinney Drugs employees he was armed and demanded cash and opiate-based prescription drugs. According to Burlington Police, it was Boucher’s second alleged robbery in as many days.
On Friday, a man matching Boucher’s description told staff at Lakeside Pharmacy that he was armed and demanded cash and prescription drugs.
"What's easy to say with the pharmacy robberies is that what we're seeing more broadly related to opiates was definitely in play here," said Shawn Burke, the deputy chief of operations for Burlington Police.
In addition to the pharmacy robberies, two convenience stores were robbed over the weekend.
At about 8 p.m. Saturday, Burlington police responded to the Champlain Farms on Main Street after a man in blue jeans and a dark hoodie showed staff a note that said he was armed and demanded cash. He left the store with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Hours later, just before 2 p.m. Sunday morning, a man came into Simon’s Downtown Quickstop on South Winooski Avenue, said he was armed, and demanded cash.
"With the convenience store robberies, or robberies in general, we generally do see a spike in this type of activity around the holidays," Burke said, noting that "it is odd to see four robberies committed within the confines of the city within two days."
Burke said it is not clear if the two convenience stores were robbed by the same person.
The weekend string of robberies brings Burlington to 25 reported robberies in 2016, Burke said. That’s slightly down from 30 reported robberies in 2015, according to Burke.
Police say anyone with information about the crimes should call the Crime Stoppers tip line at 802-864-6666.
