Less than an hour after a robbery suspect was caught inside the store, it was business as usual this morning at Horizon Pharmacy in downtown Warsaw.

Warsaw police were called to the former Brennan's Pharmacy on Market Street about 9:15 a.m. and apprehended a woman believed to be the same person to have robbed the store on Memorial Day.

Wearing a bathing suit and plastic trash bag, the woman came into the pharmacy and herded the people in the front of the store into the waiting area in front of the pharmacy counter and demanded drugs. Indiana and Michigan driver's licenses found in a car parked in the alley adjacent to the store identify the woman as Cheryl A. Lang. Police believe the vehicle, which was still running, was used by the suspect.

While not on duty during the first robbery, the front counter cashier today, Sharon Parry, said she knew it was the same person because the woman was wearing a garbage bag during the last robbery, too.

"I thought, 'Here we go again,'" Parry said. "She said, 'You guys get back here now,' so we (Parry and two female customers) went over by the pop machine. Then she said, 'No, I want you all over here.'" Parry said one of the customers started to walk away and Lang asked, "Where do you think you're going?" Parry then told the customer just to do what the woman said and escorted the two customers into the pharmacy area.

Karen Moore, a store employee who called police, said she was behind a partial wall putting merchandise on a shelf when Lang came in and, while the robbery suspect was taking the others to the back, she came around to the front counter and placed the 911 call without being seen by Lang.

Although the suspect pointed her finger and claimed to have a weapon under her trash bag, Moore said, "You could see through her stupid garbage bag and I thought, 'Yeah, I'm real afraid of that finger.'"

Moore also said the woman claimed to have an accomplice outside, but police did not locate anyone else outside the store or in or around the suspect's car.

Moore said she was concerned for the people inside because someone could have been outside, but made the call anyway. "I thought, 'I'm gonna call the police. She's not gonna do this every week.'"

Lang is suspected of robbing the same store on Memorial Day while wearing another gray garbage bag over her clothes. In that incident, she fled the store with nearly $200 worth of controlled substances, including Valium and Darvocet. She also had demanded money, but employees were unable to fulfill her request because no cash is kept at the pharmacy counter.

Police were unable to locate anyone after that robbery. A description given then by employees matches that of Lang.

This morning, Lang was taken into custody inside the store after police converged on the area, startling passersby and employees of neighboring businesses. John Hershberger, a retired detective with the WPD, entered the store as the robbery was taking place and then stepped back outside to call police on his cellular telephone. He was standing at the alleyway when the first officer arrived and indicated the suspect was still inside.

Ptl. Joe Hawn, one of Warsaw's DARE officers, took Lang into custody and said she didn't resist when he put her into handcuffs. Hawn said the woman, in whose purse several prescriptions from doctors at Bowen Center were located, had "track marks" on both her arms.

Lang was still being questioned late this morning. [[In-content Ad]]