Former Burlington County Emergency Dispatcher Admits to Stealing Oxycodone From Gloucester County Pharmacies

A Runnemede man who is a former Burlington County emergency dispatcher admitted to committing robberies at two Deptford Township pharmacies in October and December of 2013, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office announced.

Oxycodone was stolen in both robberies.

David J. Farmer, 36, admitted that he threatened a pharmacy employee at a Deptford Target store with a knife on Oct. 15, 2013. He then left with 190 oxycodone pills worth $7,600, according to a complaint.

He also admitted that on Dec. 2, 2013, he threatened to harm an employee of a pharmacy in a Deptford Wal-Mart store. According to a complaint, he stole 200 Oxycodone pills valued at $1,017.

As part of the plea agreement, Farmer faces seven years in New Jersey state prison for the Target armed robbery and a concurrent five year prison sentence for the Wal-Mart robbery. The state’s No Early Release Act applies to both sentences, meaning he must serve 85 percent of the prison terms before becoming eligible for parole.

A Deptford police officer mapped the two Deptford robberies and two similar incidents in Camden County, determining that Runnemede was the only town within a triangular area bordered by the four hold-ups.

The investigation then turned to a vehicle type that witnesses described as the getaway car. Four such cars were registered to Runnemede owners, and one of them with distinctive spoked rims was Farmer’s. Farmer, then a dispatcher with the Burlington County Communications Center, was arrested on Dec. 31.

Farmer pleaded guilty on March to first-degree robbery of a Stratford pharmacy on Dec. 24, 2013. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24.