Second Alabama Man Sentenced in Missouri Pharmacy Burglary That Netted 16,800 Pills
Cornelius Bray was sentenced to 57 months for the 2025 Kennett, Missouri, pharmacy break-in that ended in a crash after a chase at more than 130 mph.
A second Birmingham, Alabama, man has been sentenced in federal court for a 2025 break-in at a pharmacy in Kennett, Missouri, in which prosecutors say the pair stole 16,800 pills, including 7,500 hydrocodone pills.
U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. sentenced Cornelius Cardez Bray, 32, to 57 months in prison on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, and ordered him to pay $2,174.66 in restitution to the pharmacy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said.
A 2:23 a.m. alarm
Police responded to a burglary alarm at about 2:23 a.m. on March 13, 2025, at Harris Pharmacy on First Street in Kennett and found a broken door, KFVS12 reported that day. A white car fled a traffic stop at speeds over 130 mph and crashed in Pemiscot County, the station reported.
Federal prosecutors said a responding officer spotted a car with Tennessee license plates leaving town and remembered that, a few days earlier, someone in a car with Tennessee plates had been photographing another pharmacy. When the officer tried to stop the car, it sped off and crashed. Officers found numerous pill bottles in the wreckage, along with Bray’s wallet and cellphone, prosecutors said.
The men took 16,800 pills, including 7,500 hydrocodone pills and 7,500 pills containing benzodiazepine drugs, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Accounts differ on who was driving
Federal prosecutors described Bray as the driver for David Jerome Evans, who broke into the pharmacy, and said Evans was arrested at the crash scene while Bray fled and was arrested later.
In a separate state case, the Dunklin County prosecutor’s office said Evans admitted after his arrest to driving the car, KAIT reported in June 2026. Evans was sentenced in that state case to 25 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections on charges including second-degree burglary and aggravated fleeing, the station reported.
Both pleaded guilty in federal court
Bray and Evans, 32, each pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of intent to steal a controlled substance and one count of possession with intent to distribute hydrocodone, prosecutors said. Evans was sentenced earlier to 78 months in federal prison.
The Kennett Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case.
