Arrest Made in Pharmacy Armed Robbery

Police have charged a North Charleston man with the March armed robbery of a Bowman Road pharmacy.

Police accuse Arturo Mendones, 36, of entering the pharmacy through a back door, pulling a gun and demanding high-powered prescription pain killers, according to a police report.

Officers were alllegedly tipped off to Mendones' involvement when they arrested his girlfriend for posession of prescription drugs without a prescription. Sonja Tompkins, 32, told officers that Mendones had discussed robbing the pharmacy.

Employees at East Cooper Family Pharmacy were shaken up by the encounter with the armed robber, according to reports. They weren't harmed in the robbery, and the pharmacist handed over five bottles of the high-powered painkiller oxycodone and two bottles of the similarly strong painkiller hydromorphone.

Mendones is being held in the Charleston County jail on a $100,000 bond. Tompkins is being held on a $45,000 bond.