Pregnant workers at Glendale pharmacy robbed by silent gunman

Carrying a gun, a man walked into a Glendale pharmacy at noon Wednesday and handed a note over the counter.

"Norco," it said, without elaboration.

The robber's terse note referred to a prescription brand of painkiller containing hydrocodone. The two women working at Arianna Medical Pharmacy, who are both pregnant, handed over a 500-pill bottle, and the man left without speaking.

"Nothing. Not one single word," said Carmen Sefyan, the business's pharmacist in charge.

She said it was the first robbery in the two-plus years the business has been open. No one was hurt, and the robbery was over almost before they knew it.

"It was like a total of a minute," Sefyan said.

"Obviously they were in fear for their life. It was nerve-racking," said Sgt. Tom Lorenz, a Glendale police spokesman.

The man was last seen in a dark car heading north on North Verdugo Road, possibly toward the 210 or 2 freeway. He's white, looked to be in his mid-30s and was described as 5 feet 10 or 11 inches and 175 to 190 pounds.

Lorenz said such robberies have happened before at Glendale pharmacies. But he said addicts usually commit nonviolent crimes, either breaking into pharmacies after hours or stealing property they can sell to get money for drugs.

It's possible the robber was not an addict, but an entrepreneur, Lorenz said.

Norco pills can sell on the street for $25 or $50 each, he said, meaning the stolen bottle could fetch $10,000 or $20,000 if sold piecemeal.

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