Kern County upholds 30‑day suspension, $500 fine for Niles Market after underage tobacco sale

The Kern County Board of Supervisors on April 29 denied an appeal from Niles Market and upheld a 30‑day suspension of the business’s tobacco retailer permit and a $500 administrative penalty for selling tobacco to an underage decoy.

The board action followed a summary from Brynn Kerrigan, director of Kern County Public Health, who described the county’s risk‑based retail tobacco program and the ordinance that sets escalating penalties for repeated violations. Kerrigan told the board the facility’s second documented violation within five years led the Administrative Review Board to sustain the penalty and suspension.

Kerrigan said county staff use an underage decoy—an extra‑help employee younger than the legal purchasing age—who attempts purchases while accompanied for safety by an older staffer who remains outside. “If a facility sells to our underage employee, the facility is in violation of the law and Kern County ordinance code and is subject to penalties,” Kerrigan said during her presentation.

County records presented to the board show an initial violation at Niles Market on Sept. 6, 2023, that resulted in a $250 penalty paid on Nov. 2, 2023. A second violation occurred on Nov. 27, 2024; the Administrative Review Board issued a notice on Feb. 13, 2025, assessing a $500 penalty and 30‑day suspension under the county code’s schedule for second offenses within five years.

At the Administrative Review Board hearing, the owner, Nilama Rani, said the clerk involved did not accept responsibility and that the store’s video retention is limited to seven days, preventing verification from the recording. The owner also told the board the store uses an ID scanner and posts visual aids to help clerks determine legal purchasing age.

At the supervisors’ public hearing the store’s representative, Rajendra Lal Kapoor, told the board that employees “do not sell” to those under 21 and suggested an adult intermediary may have been involved. “My employee say, they don't sell for the, like, under 80 and 21… he say they sale for the somebody else, the under, like, is that 30, 30 maybe like he's, he's older,” Kapoor said through an interpreter.

Public‑health staff replied that the underage decoy was the only person who entered the store during the purchase attempts and that the county’s protocols require decoys to carry valid California IDs and to present them if asked.

Supervisor Parlier moved to deny the appeal; the motion was seconded and carried. The board recorded the appeal denial and the penalties as sustained.

The board’s action preserves the Administrative Review Board’s finding that, because this was a second violation within five years and the store’s existing safeguards did not prevent the sale, the statutory penalty and suspension were appropriate.

The board did not direct additional remedies or modifications to the county program at the hearing. Niles Market may pursue any further administrative remedies allowed by the ordinance.