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Caroline County board finds Bullock's Deli guilty of underage sale, fines business $500
Summary
The Caroline County Board of License Commissioners found Bullock's Deli guilty of selling alcohol to a customer under 21 during a Nov. 27 compliance check and assessed a $500 fine plus administrative fees; payment is due within 30 days.
The Caroline County Board of License Commissioners on April 23 found Bullock's Deli guilty of selling an alcoholic beverage to a person under 21 and assessed a $500 fine plus administrative charges, the board said during a show-cause hearing.
The board's alcoholic beverage inspector, Trey, testified that on Nov. 27 he conducted an underage compliance check at Bullock's Deli. "On this night, they approached the counter and where [an employee] was working. She asked for the ID and was presented the ID and proceeded to sell a pack of green apple Mike's hard lemonade," Trey said in the hearing, describing how the sale was completed and documented with marked currency and photographs.
Betty Steele, manager of Bullock's Deli, appeared to represent the establishment; she told the board the employee who made the sale is no longer employed at the store and that the business has since taken steps to improve compliance, including additional staff training and use of ID scanners. Trey told the board he had returned to the store multiple times afterward to re-check compliance and reported no subsequent failures.
During deliberations the board acknowledged Bullock's long record without recent violations and discussed standard penalties. One board member noted that the typical fine is $1,000 but supported a reduction in light of the business's record and remedial steps. The board voted to find Bullock's Deli in violation of section 6-304 of the Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland and Caroline County rule 2.26 and assessed a $500 fine. The board also assessed a $50 postponement fee and a $50 administrative charge, bringing the total due to $600; the board ordered payment within 30 days.
The hearing record presented by the board notes the original license issue date for Bullock's Deli was May 1977 and that the establishment had no prior violations in the five years before the incident. The board placed weight on that record and on the inspector's reports of subsequent clean inspections when setting the sanction.
The board's finding and the penalty are memorialized in its April 23 minutes; the licensee will receive written notice of the fine and the 30-day payment deadline.
