Former Reserve Airman pleads guilty to stealing

  • Published
  • By AFOSI Public Affairs
  • Air Force Office of Special Investigations
QUANTICO, Va. --  On February 20, 2014, in Del Rio, Texas, 20-year-old Simon Robert Barron, a former reserve U.S. Airman temporarily assigned to Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, pleaded guilty to federal charges of stealing government property and burglary of a pharmacy announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman, United States Attorney's Office of Western Texas.

This investigation was conducted by agents with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations together with the Del Rio Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Burke is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.

According to court records, on May 20, 2013, Barron attempted to purchase cough syrup at the Lifechek Drugs pharmacy located on North Bedell Avenue, but was turned away for not having a prescription. That evening, Barron returned to the pharmacy where he used a rock to smash a window, entered the pharmacy, and then stole an assortment of narcotics with a retail value of more than $63,000. Two days later, while at Laughlin AFB, Barron was ordered to undergo a medical evaluation after he appeared intoxicated. A urinalysis revealed the presence of marijuana, Xanax, cocaine, codeine, and several opiates in his system.

During a subsequent search authorization, issued by a military magistrate and executed at Barron's dorm room, Air Force OSI Detachment 410 investigators discovered more than 6,300 pills and liquid narcotics stolen from the Lifechek pharmacy along with stolen government property including seven GPS units, two digital cameras, a power drill, an LED flashlight and a Motorola radio-base station. Authorities also recovered an Air Force air compressor from Barron's vehicle and a government chainsaw Barron pawned at a local pawn shop on the day of the pharmacy burglary. The value of the stolen government property is estimated to be more than $5,500.

Barron faces up to twenty years in federal prison on the pharmacy burglary charge and up to ten years in federal prison on the theft of Government property charge. He remains on bond pending sentencing that has yet to be scheduled.

(Original submission by DOJ/AUSA Office of West Texas)