The Valley Independent Sentinel today takes a comprehensive look at recent thefts across the Naugatuck Valley, including in Oxford, which police said have been fueled by the thieves' desire to feed a drug habbit.

Many of the thefts that have occurred in the Valley recently have been perpetrated by people who later tell investigators they were stealing to get money for drugs, mainly for painkillers like Percocet or OxyCodone, the mega-addictive drug that is rapidly gaining in use for both prescription drug users and recreational drug abusers.

The Sentinel article points out that the painkillers are expensive - two 60 milligram pills go for about $120 on the street - and when money runs out, some abusers turn to stealing. Some also have turned to heroin because it is cheaper and a similar high.

Some theft cases that are believed to have been conducted by drug addicts include: 

• Police recently arrested Robert Magi, 20, of Fairfield, for a string of break-ins in Oxford and Seymour;
• In April, a 20-year-old Oxford girl named Ashlee M. Duquette was turned into police by her father who accused her of stealing his prescription drugs;
• And in late 2010, Raymond Reynolds, 29, of Oxford and Newtown, was charged with breaking into homes in Oxford on Coppermine, Bee Mountain and Good Hill roads. Police also charged him with breaking into homes in Stratford, Monroe and Southbury. He is currently serving a six-year prison term for the break-ins, which police believe were done to get money for a heroin addiction that began with addiction to painkillers.

Read the full story in the Valley Independent Sentinel here.