An Air Force Reserve airman whas sentenced to 21 months in prison for stealing $63,000 worth of narcotics from a local pharmacy while assigned to Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, according to the Justice Department.
Simon Robert Barron, 21, will also pay $3,980.11 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release after getting out of prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas announced on Tuesday.
Barron was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to an indictment on Feb. 20, a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office says.
The news release referred to Barron as a "former reserve U.S. Airman," but a spokesman for the 433rd Airlift Wing confirmed to Air Force Times that Barron is still a reservist with the unit. His rank is airman and his discharge is pending.
On May 20, 2013, Barron tried to buy cough syrup at a pharmacy in Del Rio, Texas, but he was turned away because he did not have a prescription, the news release says. He returned came back to the pharmacy that night, used a rock to smashed a window with a rock and stole a variety of drugs.
Two days later, Barron was ordered to undergo a medical evaluation because he "appeared intoxicated" while at Laughlin Air Force Base, the news release says.
"A urinalysis revealed the presence of marijuana, Xanax, cocaine, codeine, and several opiates in his system," the news release says.
Investigators from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations found more than 6,300 pills and liquid narcotics stolen from the pharmacy when they searched Barron's barracks room, the news release says. They also found stolen government property, including seven Global Positioning System units, two digital cameras, a power drill, a light-emitting diode [LED] flashlight and a Motorola Radio Base Station.
"Authorities also recovered an Air Force air compressor from Barron's vehicle and a government chainsaw Barron pawned at a local pawn shop on the day of the pharmacy burglary," the news release says.
