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A man suspected of stealing prescription drugs walked right into a Fredericksburg police trap yesterday, police said.
City police spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe said a suspect was caught on camera taking drugs from a resident at Madonna House at 2600 Cowan Blvd.
Timothy Rudolph Jones, 51, a maintenance worker at the apartment complex, was charged with grand larceny and illegal possession of prescription drugs.
According to Bledsoe, police set up a sting after receiving several reports of drug thefts at the Madonna House in recent months.
OxyContin and Vicoden were the drugs taken. There was no sign of forced entry in any of the thefts.
One of the victims, a 78-year-old woman, suspected the maintenance worker because the thefts began about the time he started working there four months ago, Bledsoe said.
Bledsoe said city police, with the assistance of state police, set up video surveillance equipment in the woman's apartment Sunday.
Police began monitoring the equipment at 9 a.m. the next day, Bledsoe said, and the woman left for an appointment at 10 a.m.
At 10:30 a.m., Bledsoe said, the suspect entered the woman's home and was seen on camera taking her drugs.
Police confronted him in the stairwell, Bledsoe said. After saying that he entered the apartment to fix a stove that wasn’t broken, police said, the suspect was arrested.
Jones was placed in the Rappahannock Regional Jail under a $2,500 bond.
Bledsoe said any other residents in that area who are missing drugs should call city police at 373-3122.
Keith Epps: 540/374-5404
kepps@freelancestar.com
