A longtime crook with a need for narcotics briefly took a customer hostage at knife point while robbing a south Minneapolis pharmacy of more than 200 oxycodone pills, then was arrested while trying to swallow the evidence, a move that sent him to the hospital overdosing, according to charges.
Laurence J. Charette, 43, of Minneapolis, remains jailed ahead of a scheduled appearance Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court on charges of aggravated robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon.
At the time of last Tuesday's late-morning robbery, Charette was about five weeks into his supervised release from prison after pulling off similar crimes in Minneapolis.
In October 2010, he jumped the Walgreens pharmacy counter in Uptown with a knife and demanded oxycodone. Later that year, police said, he did much the same at Smiley's Clinic Pharmacy, operated by Fairview, in the 2000 block of East 28th Street.
Charette's criminal history in Minnesota spans his adult life, with many convictions for theft along with aggravated robbery, drug possession and domestic assault.
According to the criminal complaint in the latest incident:
Witnesses inside the pharmacy at Fairview Clinic Hiawatha at 3809 42nd Avenue S. told police that Charette pointed a knife at a clerk staffing a window and demanded narcotics.
The clerk backed away. Charette grabbed a woman in line at a window next to him, put the knife to her waist and threatened to kill her if he didn't get the narcotics.
