On August 12th, at approximately 9:42 PM, the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a Burglary Alarm going off at Fox Family Pharmacy, located in the 100 block of South County Road in Hardin.
Calhoun County Sheriff’s deputies immediately responded responded to the area and were met by several witnesses who indicated they saw a suspect climb out of the window of the pharmacy and flee from them on foot. Deputies were assisted by the Illinois Conservation Police in searching the area through the night but were unable to locate the suspect.
Chief Deputy Zach Hardin photographed and processed the crime scene and conducted an intensive investigation which resulted in the confirmation of the identification of the suspect through multiple eye-witnesses.
Subsequently, on August 18th, the Calhoun County State’s Attorney’s Office issued a Warrant of Arrest for Tyler M Buckingham, 24, of Bethalto for felony burglary. On August 23rd, Buckingham was arrested by the Alton Police Department for his outstanding Calhoun County warrant, in addition to other charges relating to offenses committed in Alton. Additionally, on August 25th, the Calhoun County State’s Attorney’s Office filed additional charges, which stemmed from an unrelated drug investigation for incidents that occurred on July 8th. Buckingham was additionally charged for felony possession of methamphetamine less than 5 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Buckingham was placed on pretrial release conditions with GPS monitoring and allowed travel to the State of Missouri for work at an August 26th hearing in Calhoun County Circuit Court. He is due for a preliminary hearing and subsequent arraignment on his charges in court on September 9.