Four Houston men accused of trafficking copious amounts of pills were apprehended at an Interstate 30 rest stop in Southwest Arkansas.
At least two of the individuals were allegedly involved in a July 31, 2025, burglary of a St. Louis-area pharmacy. Within five hours of the burglary report, police in Arkansas and Missouri worked to make an arrest.
Police confiscated over 25,000 pills of various prescribed uses following the arrest and execution of a search warrant.
Arrested were Bartley Omar White Jr., 21; Erik Dewayne Lyons Jr., 20; Johnathan Dewayne Fore, 29; and Anthony Ray Venwright Jr., 32.
According to court documents, two of the men broke into a pharmacy and spent two hours filling bags with prescriptions before being apprehended by police on their way back to Houston.
Clark County Sheriff Jason Watson provided The Arkadelphian with affidavits from the sheriff’s office Group 6 Narcotics Enforcement Unit. According to court documents, Arkansas State Troopers pulled down two vehicles after issuing a BOLO (Be On the Lookout ) for a Toyota Rav4 seen on security film leaving a pharmacy burglary in Maryland Heights, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.
The burglary was reported at 7:34 a.m. on Thursday, July 31. Detectives examined security footage that showed two suspects breaking a glass to access the back of the shop around 1:15 a.m. During the two hours the dark-clad suspects spent in the drugstore, one of them destroyed a security cage containing pain medication and other banned substances, allowing each to load big bags with pill bottles before fleeing.
Detectives identified the Rav4 by analyzing numerous public and police traffic camera databases that captured a clear image of the vehicle’s license plate and indicated its direction of travel.
A BOLO was sent, and Arkansas troopers found the vehicle moving in tandem with a Nissan Rogue. The affidavit states that the suspects may have been involved in organized crime since they used various vehicles and license plates and traveled long distances to commit crimes in order to avoid confrontation with law authorities.
A computer search of the Nissan Rogue revealed that it was rented in Houston, Texas, and that it was in Texas throughout the morning hours of July 31 before going to Cabot, Arkansas, in the late morning. Arkansas troopers stopped both vehicles and arrested four people at the Pilot Travel Center in Caddo Valley.
A search warrant was conducted on both vehicles on July 31, discovering two huge garbage bags in the spare tire area, each containing pill bottles. During the police questioning, three of the men submitted statements.
The accused are being jailed at Clark County Detention Center on eight counts of trafficking a controlled drug. They are set to make their first court appearance on Monday. It was unclear at the time of writing, Saturday morning, if the guys will be extradited to Missouri.
