Serial pharmacy robbery suspect from The Woodlands behind bars

Officials say Melinda Cathleen Jakstas, 39, robbed the CHI St. Luke's Health - The Woodlands Hospital on Feb. 3, 2017. She is also accused in three other pharmacies in Montgomery and Harris Counties. Officials say Melinda Cathleen Jakstas, 39, robbed the CHI St. Luke's Health - The Woodlands Hospital on Feb. 3, 2017. She is also accused in three other pharmacies in Montgomery and Harris Counties. Photo: MCSO Photo: MCSO Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close Serial pharmacy robbery suspect from The Woodlands behind bars 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

A woman has been charged with robbing two Woodlands-area pharmacies and two others in Harris County.

Melinda Cathleen Jakstas, 39, was arrested Saturday at a strip center at the intersection of Lake Woodlands Drive and Pinecroft Drive. She faces four first-degree felony aggravated robbery charges, each carrying a possible life sentence if she's convicted.

Montgomery County Sheriff's detectives believe Jakstas first robbed a pharmacy inside CHI St. Luke's Health-The Woodlands Hospital at 17200 St. Luke's Way Feb. 3, using a firearm in the process to steal drugs from a pharmacy technician. A little over a week later, Harris County Sheriff's officials stated in court documents that Jakstas robbed the Rayford Pharmacy in the 7600 block of Louetta Road, which is about seven miles west of Interstate 45 North in Harris County.

During that robbery, Jakstas allegedly walked into the pharmacy claiming to be a new customer there to pick up a prescription. The pharmacy employee met with a person believed to be Jakstas in the lobby, at which time she allegedly pointed a gun at the employee and handed him a note demanding different types of drugs.

Officials stated in court documents that she made the man take her into the back of the store where she threatened to shoot him and two other employees if they pressed the pharmacy's panic button, which would have alerted police to the robbery. She handed the employees a pillow case, detectives said, and allegedly made off with about $20,000 worth of drugs.

Court documents seem to show it was a month before she allegedly robbed another pharmacy, this time at Assurance Consolidated Pharmacy in the 400 block of Rayford Road in Montgomery County April 9.

Officials said her latest robbery happened May 4 at the Saddlebrook Pharmacy in the 25200 block of Kuykendahl Road in Harris County. The employee handed over the drugs they had on-hand, after Jakstas allegedly told the employee she would open fire if the employees called police.

Officials believe, in each of the robberies, Jakstas used the same method as the Rayford Pharmacy robbery – producing a weapon and handing a note to the pharmacy employee demanding drugs.

Jakstas then drove to a home in the 25200 block of Butterwick Drive, where she allegedly told a resident there she was having car troubles and needed a ride, court documents show. One of the neighbors in the area knew Jakstas and gave her a ride home, so Jakstas left her car in the driveway of another residence.

When that resident came home, detectives stated, she called police because Jakstas' car was in her driveway blocking her garage. The responding officers checked out the car and found it to be registered to Jakstas and contained the drugs she allegedly stole from the Saddlebrook Pharmacy.

Jakstas has misdemeanor convictions in Montgomery County for criminal mischief, driving while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance, all stemming from arrests dating back to 1997.

She also has a felony criminal history in Harris County, court documents show. In 1998, she spent 15 months in jail after pleading guilty to pretending to be a doctor on the phone in order to get prescription drugs. She also spent a year in jail in 2010 after pleading guilty to possessing a dangerous drug.

For the two Montgomery County robberies, Jakstas is being charged in Judge Patty Maginnis' 435th state District Court. She is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on all four charges with $170,000 worth of bonds.