A South Ogden woman who police say has a serious drug addiction has been arrested for allegedly robbing several pharmacies at gunpoint and driving great lengths to do it.

Tanelle Buterbaugh, 26, was arrested Friday and booked into the Sevier County Jail for investigation of multiple counts of armed robbery. She is believed to have robbed pharmacies from Layton to Evanston, Wyo., to Gunnison and Richfield, said Richfield police detective Trent Lloyd.

She has a "serious drug problem," he said. "She was taking a large amount of (OxyContin) pills a day. She probably would have died within the next month or two."

Buterbaugh had a legitimate medical problem at one time that required an OxyContin prescription, Lloyd said.

"She ended up getting on painkillers and ended up taking more and more," he said. "Eventually the doctors wouldn't see her, but the habit was still there."

The first armed robbery was a few months ago in Layton, Lloyd said. Buterbaugh has family living near Gunnison, and would commit an armed robbery while visiting them, he said.

On July 24, detectives believe Buterbaugh attempted to rob a pharmacy in Ogden, and then drove to Evanston to rob another pharmacy after her first attempt was unsuccessful. The most recent robbery was Sept. 8 at the pharmacy at the Richfield Wal-Mart.

Of the five armed robberies she is accused of, a gun was displayed in three of them and she insinuated she had one in the other two, Lloyd said.

Buterbaugh was being watched by nurses in the Sevier County Jail Monday as her body went through the detox process, he said.

---

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com