Medicine Theft Ring Arrested for $70 Million Warehouse Pilfering

Two Cuban brothers were indicted by federal authorities for the theft of more than $70 million in prescription drugs from an Eli Lilly & Co. warehouse the night of March 13, 2010.

The Connecticut warehouse break-in required the criminals to slide through a whole cut in the warehouse roof, down a rope, in order to steal 49 pallets of antidepressants and antipsychotics on a tractor trailer truck, reports the Wall Street Journal.  

The brothers, Amaury Villa, 37, and Amed Villa, 46, were videotaped looking into the warehouse on the night of March 13, 2010.  Both men were indicted on federal conspiracy and theft charges by a federal grand jury in New Haven, Connecticut. Additionally, Amaury Villa and ten other men were charged in federal court in Miami with conspiracy to sell stolen goods, including medicines.  

Said David Fein, the U.S. Attorney in Connecticut, “We believe that a prolific cargo theft ring has been dismantled.”  

By S. Imber