SWAMPSCOTT - It's the kind of story that could easily be played for laughs: Police thwart a fleeing robbery suspect by throwing a bottle of laundry detergent at the getaway car, covering it in blue goo.
But behind the humor there's another story, one about a military veteran and cancer survivor who descended into addiction and is now heading to state prison.
Yesterday, Michael Fleming, 41, pleaded guilty to a string of charges including larceny of a motor vehicle, unarmed robbery, driving under the influence of drugs, and possession of OxyContin, oxycodone and Klonopin with intent to distribute.
He was sentenced to five to seven years in state prison, the result of a plea agreement struck between prosecutors and his lawyers and accepted yesterday by Salem Superior Court Judge Thomas Billings.
On the afternoon of Oct. 10, 2005, Fleming had just left his girlfriend at Boston Medical Center and was walking along Washington Street in the South End when he spotted a man moving items around in the trunk of a 2003 Acura TL, prosecutor Michael Sheehan said.
Fleming climbed into the driver's seat, and when the stunned owner of the car confronted him, Fleming said, "What are you gonna do?" and drove off in the man's car.
About an hour later, Fleming, who grew up in Marblehead and graduated from Marblehead High School, was driving through Vinnin Square in Swampscott.
Fleming would later tell police he was desperate for pills and decided to rob the CVS. He scrawled a holdup note on a paper plate: "Have a gun. Give pills." Then he went inside.
Meanwhile, Sgt. Tim Cassidy was off duty and running errands. As he stood in line waiting to pay for his items, he heard a bit of commotion at the back of the store. "Hurry up, hurry up," he heard a man yell.
Then, as the man ran out of the store with four bottles of pills from the pharmacy, Cassidy heard the pharmacist yelling to him, "Tim, that guy just robbed us."
Cassidy ran out after the suspect. But he was not in uniform and had no weapon, so he had to think quickly. First, he asked Fleming if he would share the drugs with him. But Fleming kept moving.
Then Cassidy pulled on the door of the Acura, which was locked.
As the Acura pulled away, Cassidy tried one more thing: He threw a gallon jug of All detergent at the car, hoping to smash a window, Sheehan said.
Instead, the jug shattered, covering the car with detergent.
It took police just five minutes to find Fleming. When they found him, he had not only the bottles of OxyContin and oxycodone but three bags of Klonopin, with more than 800 pills.
He would later tell police that he'd already poured pills into his mouth from two of the bottles he had been given in the drugstore, chewing a mix of OxyContin and generic oxycodone pills as he drove away.
Police also found fresh needle marks on his arm. He told them he'd shot up earlier in the day.
Defense lawyer Mark Schmidt said Fleming's decline began years ago, after a life of early promise. After graduating from Marblehead High in 1983, he went to Salem State College for two years. In 1986, he joined the Air Force.
But while stationed in Guam, he got caught up in the hard-drinking culture of the military. After his discharge, Fleming appeared to build a successful life, holding down sales jobs at a car dealership and at Bose, the high-end electronics company.
Then he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. While undergoing treatment, he was prescribed painkillers and soon became dependent. Schmidt said Fleming continued working for a time but gradually grew heavily addicted, eventually switching to heroin.
"He is truly remorseful," Schmidt said.
Since he's been in jail, unable to make bail in the case, Fleming has taken major steps toward addressing his problem, completing a substance abuse treatment program at Middleton Jail. He hopes to continue that work when he is moved to a state prison. And treatment will be a condition of his three-year probation when he is released, Billings ordered.
