Lortab thief tricked by bottle of beans

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (WALA) - There is no scientific connection between Lortabs and red beans, but Mac Clark is making a medical discovery of his own.

Clark is a pharmacist at Fred's Drug Store in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Within the past five months, his store has been hit four times by Lortab thieves.

Now, he's tired of it. So Clark came up with a plan. He got some empty Lortab bottles and filled them with red beans.

"I was trying to get something that would shake just like Lortabs," said Clark.

If Clark's plan sounded strange, his coworkers say it did at the time.

"I thought it was the funnest thing, because who would have ever thought about that?" said coworker Robin Deflanders.

Nonetheless, Clark went forward with his strategy and it was tested soon after. Wednesday, Pascagoula Police say someone broke in and went straight for the Lortab. But the thief didn't get anything.

"He got beans with no rice, just plain beans without rice," said Clark.

Clark had to put up plywood because the thief came through a window. He or she tried to break another glass, but couldn't.

Clark believes the thief was desperate. The suspect wasn't caught, but a good trail of evidence was left behind - blood.

"It was all over the floor, they have cleaned it up now," added Clark.

It will take some time to determine whether Clark's plan will stop the crimes for good. If not, bottles of red beans are waiting behind the counter.