Three men from Texas were sentenced on July 6 for stealing tens of thousands of pain pills and other controlled substances from pharmacies in Missouri and Kansas last year.
Anthony Ray Venwright, 33, received a sentence of 120 months in prison. Jonathan Fore, 30, was sentenced to 87 months. Erik Dewayne Lyons Jr., 21, was given a sentence of 46 months. All three were ordered to pay restitution totaling $62,708.
According to court documents, the three traveled from Houston to Lee’s Summit, Missouri, on July 29, 2025. The following day, Lyons waited in a Toyota RAV4 while Venwright and Fore broke into a pharmacy and stole drugs. They then burglarized another pharmacy in Overland Park, Kansas, before targeting a Maryland Heights pharmacy the next day. Police identified the RAV4 used by the group and tracked it to Arkansas. After being stopped by Arkansas State Police along with another vehicle, investigators found two trash bags containing drugs stolen from the third pharmacy as well as evidence linking them to all three burglaries.
The men admitted stealing a total of 25,610 doses of pain pills and other controlled substances. All pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and entering a pharmacy with intent to steal controlled substances.
The case was investigated by multiple law enforcement agencies including the Maryland Heights Police Department; Arkansas State Police; Clark County (Arkansas) Sheriff’s Department; Lee’s Summit Police Department; and Overland Park (Kansas) Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D’Agrosa prosecuted the case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri investigates federal crimes—including those involving drug offenses—and enforces civil rights across its jurisdiction covering 49 counties using courthouses such as Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in St. Louis and Rush H. Limbaugh Sr. U.S. Courthouse in Cape Girardeau under the United States Department of Justice structure, according to the official website.