Open Houses Being Targeted by Drug Thieves

Drug rehab centers near San Diego are warning homeowners to be careful when selling their homes. The past few months have seen a rash of thefts. It appears that open houses are becoming a favorite target for addicts looking to steal prescription pills.

Homeowners generally do a good job of locking up jewelry, electronics and other valuables, but they often forget the medicine cabinet. It might be time to start locking those too. 

When families hold open houses, the idea is to bring as many people into the home as possible. Hopefully the right person will come along, like the house, and buy it. Unfortunately, this invitation attracts more than just buyers. Prescription drug addicts are clever and desperate.

"A lot of times the realtor is alone in the house and the bad guys will go in pairs," said Kevin Burke, of the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors. "One will engage with the agent as the other goes through the house."

Visiting all the bathrooms, thieves go through the cabinets until they find what they’re looking for. Rehab centers report that many prescription drugs can become addictive. Especially popular among thieves are Opioid painkillers, but ADHD drugs, anti-anxiety drugs and muscle relaxants like Xanax and Valium are also highly sought-after according to DEA officer Barbara Carreno.

"Stealing drugs from open houses is indeed a technique drug thieves use to obtain controlled substance prescription drugs," Carreno said. The DEA often finds stolen prescription drugs later on the black market. Rehab centers try to help those affected.

Most homeowners in San Diego are aware of drug theft, but assume that it only happens in urban or underprivileged areas. This isn’t true at all. The new wave of medicine cabinet theft has brought drug crime to the suburbs.

An anonymous real estate agent spoke with Consumerist.com about a personal experience: “It was at the end of the day, I was by myself, it was a two-story house,” he said. 

“And a young woman came with a baby on her arm, in a carrier, she said, ‘Do you mind if I just put the baby down and run upstairs?’”

 “The next day I got a call from the homeowner that there were some pills missing from the medicine cabinet,” says the agent.

Homeowners around San Diego should be especially careful when holding open houses. Prescription drug abuse sends thousands of addicts to rehab centers every year. 

Tanner Wadsworth is a health writer reporter for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. Information provided by Miramar Recovery Center. Follow on Twitter

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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