Tensions high as authorities chase suspects
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

Three suspects were apprehended last Wednesday, Jan. 23, in connection with the burglary of a Jasper pharmacy and attempted burglary of a Kirbyville pharmacy.

The three men captured Jan. 23, Terrance Merchant, 27; Nathan Butler, 27; and Randy Norman, 29. All were arraigned and charged Friday, Jan. 25 in Jasper County with evading arrest and burglary of a building in connection with a break-in at Gee-Shipman Pharmacy in Jasper.

They remain in the Jasper County Jail on varying bonds: Merchant, $76,000 bond; Butler, $52,000 bond; and Norman, $51,000. Additional charges are pending against the suspects.

Quincy Brooks and another unnamed suspect are believed to be in the Houston area.

"We have some pretty good information that is telling us they are back in Houston," said Kirbyville Police Chief Paul Brister.

Jasper Police Detective Mike Poindexter said authorities have been notified that one of the suspects has been spotted in the Houston area.

"I have talked to someone in Houston who knows him and told them to tell him he needs to turn himself in," Poindexter said. "We received a call Friday, Jan. 25, from a bondsman saying that (Brooks) was going to turn himself in this week."

Brister said one of the suspects in the case has family from the Jasper area and that was how the Houston residents found this area.

"It goes along with that old saying that you don't mess in your own backyard, you go somewhere else and do your business," Poindexter said. "They are just traveling around to different places and hitting these mom and pop pharmacies."

Police believe the five were targeting smaller country pharmacies attempting to take pain medications that can be re-sold on the streets.

"Depending on the area, you might be able to get $10 a pill," Poindexter said. "If you have a bottle full of 500 pills, then that's pretty good money."

Poindexter estimated that the suspects had more than 50 bottles of pills in the vehicle when it was inventoried.

"They knew what they were doing - this wasn't their first rodeo," Poindexter said. "They've done this before."

"It was a wild night and day for all of us," Brister said. "We canvassed the city a couple of times searching for the two suspects. And we had a lot of help from a lot of people."

According to Brister, five suspects were seen in front of S & R Pharmacy in Kirbyville by KPD officer Bob Walker at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22. Walker attempted to question the suspects who fled down Harris Street and jumped out of their moving vehicle.

"They all bailed out of the car and left it running at 30 mph down the road," Brister said. "It crashed into a parked vehicle.

The five suspects were able to elude Walker but with the aid of Jasper Police Officer Garret Foster and his K-9 officer, Merchant was located and captured by police.

Jasper County sheriff's deputies picked up Butler and Norman in Buna at 8:15 a.m. Jan. 23.

Brister said the two walked down the railroad tracks from Kirbyville to Buna and walked down Mill Road in Buna near the sub-courthouse. A Jasper County sheriff's deputy was stationed there and spotted them.

"They hit those tracks and there are woods on either side of them so if they saw anything they could easily get out in the woods," Brister said. "They came out on Mill Road and it just happened that a deputy was sitting there when they did come out."

Brister ordered Kirbyville schools locked down after conferring with Kirbyville Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Joe Burns.

All other schools in Jasper County followed suit a short time later.

In all, authorities from Kirbyville PD, Jasper PD, Jasper County Sheriff's department, Department of Public Safety and the Texas Forest Service Law Enforcement Division assisted in the search for the suspects.