A man is accused of robbing a Maryland CVS of $27,000 in prescription drugs by threatening a pharmacist with a blood-filled syringe that he said was contaminated with the AIDS virus.
Howard County police said 52-year-old Benjamin Blessing forced a pharmacist at the CVS on the 3300 block of Centennial Lane in Ellicott City to open a safe containing prescription medications by holding a syringe that he said contained AIDS-tainted blood to her chest.
Blessing fled with $27,000 worth of medicine in the heist, which happened at about 4:20 a.m. on April 18, police said.
Blessing, of Columbia, was identified as a suspect through surveillance footage. A search warrant executed at his home uncovered drugs taken during the robbery, authorities said.
Investigators have confirmed that the syringe contained blood but are still conducting testing to determine whether it was tainted with AIDS.
Also through the surveillance footage, Blessing was charged in another robbery with an unusual weapon. Police allege that he tried to rob a woman and her 4-year-old child at an ATM in Columbia by pointing a stun gun at them. When a cab pulled up near the bank, the woman shouted that police were there and Blessing left, police said.
No one was injured in either incident.
