Thief holds 60-year-old woman at knifepoint for OxyContin

MILLINOCKET – A 60-year-old woman avoided injury Friday night when a perpetrator robbed her at knifepoint in her home and stole 144 OxyContin pills and cash.

Around 6:30 p.m., the woman answered a knock at her door and found the thief wearing a black Halloween costume and mask and brandishing a knife, according to Millinocket police Detective John Glidden. The thief pushed her inside and passed her a note that read, “Give me your pills or you will die,” Glidden said.

The thief then held the knife to the woman’s throat and they both went to get the pills, Glidden said. The thief also made off with $400 in cash, he said.

While the dosage of the pills wasn’t available, Glidden estimated that if they had been 40 milligrams, the street value could be between $6,000 and $7,000.

The woman was uninjured, but extremely distraught, he said. The incident remains under investigation.

A number of thefts and robberies involving OxyContin have occurred recently in the area, Glidden said. In July, a man broke into the home of a 62-year-old woman, tied her up at knifepoint, sexually assaulted her and stole a prescription of OxyContin valued at $3,600.