Laurence Charette arrested in Duluth for Walgreens robbery spree

A thorn in Walgreen's side.

​Okay, so he's not as snicker-inducing as the Unibrow robber, who made headlines for his Frida Kahlo-like brows earlier this year. But to Walgreens, Laurence John Charette has been just as much of a headache.

Walgreens has been plagued with pharmacy robberies in recent years, and the cops say Charette was a particularly bold thief.

On October 19th, he allegedly stepped into the Walgreens on Hennepin Avenue in Uptown and swiped a University of Minnesota cap. Then jumped over the pharmacy counter wielding a four-inch blade.

"Give me the shit," he said. "You know what I want. Give me the oxycodone--I want the 80s."

After he got $2,300 worth of prescription drugs, Charette hightailed it out of the store, shoving a shopping cart out of his way as he reached the front check out counter. He jumped onto a bike and pedaled away.

All of this was captured on Walgreens security cameras. Then a few weeks later, Charette robbed a second store, the Fairview Smiley Pharmacy at 2020 E. 28th St.

Charette's DNA was later identified on a water bottle found on his abandoned bike after the Walgreens robbery, according to Lt. Mike Fossum of the MPD.

Now he's been arrested in Duluth, and is being held in jail ahead of an expected court date in early January. Several others who have pulled pharmacy robbery stunts like Charette's--including Scott Sobota, the famed "Unibrow Robber," and his buddy So-Sah Turney--are now serving time. Cops hope their arrests will slow the train of prescription drugs up to the Red Lake and Leech Lake Indian Reservations in Northern Minnesota.