BANGOR, Maine — The Kenduskeag woman accused of robbing a Corinth pharmacy in January most likely will remain at the Penobscot County Jail after a judge Friday set bail at $20,000 cash or $100,000 surety.
Tanya Leigh Strout, 38, did not enter pleas to charges of robbery, a Class B crime, and stealing oxycodone, a Class C crime, when she made her first appearance via video conference at the Penobscot Judicial Center from the jail.
Through lawyer-of-the-day, Benjamin Fowler, Strout asked for unsecured bail. He described Strout as a single mother, whose only income is Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. Fowler also said that Strout has been in recovery and sober for the past four years.
District Court Judge Gregory Campbell described the crime as “very serious.” He set a high bail, which was recommended by Tracy Collins Lacher, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County.
Strout was arrested Wednesday afternoon and charged with the Jan. 4 robbery of Community Pharmacy, located inside Whitney’s Family Supermarket. Formerly known as Tradewinds Marketplace, the complex is located at 689 Main St.
The robber presented a note stating that she had a weapon and would shoot if the clerk went anywhere near a telephone, police said in January. A weapon was never displayed.
Though Strout was identified as the the suspect shortly after the robbery, investigators waited to make an arrest until testing at the state crime lab in Augusta confirmed that the portion of paper found in Strout’s boyfriend’s car was an exact match to the piece left at the pharmacy, District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said Wednesday.
Further testing confirmed that fingerprints on the paper belonged to Strout, the prosecutor said.
Her boyfriend has not been charged, according to Almy.
If convicted, Strout faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000 on the robbery charge and up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000 on the drug theft charge.
Here’s a great chance to make an example of someone who’s committed a very serious crime. Let’s hope the system doesn’t let down the Pharmacists and other workers who have put up with this almost weekly in our state. Pretty soon picking up a prescription will be like the TSA screenings required at our airports.
Those are a pain.
yes and the customers and employees who are also subjected to this sort of dangerous crime, make an example of all of them!
Why would someone sober 4 years be stealing oxy’s?
Another one living off us taxpayers. I bet she has no job and makes excuses for not having that also. OOO she will get off (our great court system) because she is a single mother, but probably not living alone and collecting aid…..Maine the way life should be.
Even if she goes to jail, she is still living off tax payers anyways. She gets 3 square meals and someone else has to worry about the child(ren)
Hhhmmm……relative to Robert Strout? (Orsmby case, drug trafficking) They seem to have the same “body type”!