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Board upholds 15-day suspension of Liberty Market tobacco permit after decoy sale to minor
Summary
San Francisco’s Board of Appeals on March 7 upheld a 15‑day suspension of a tobacco‑sales permit for Liberty Market after the Department of Public Health presented evidence that a minor decoy successfully purchased cigarettes. The board voted 5–0 to sustain the suspension; the permittee acknowledged the sale and said a pending business sale could be affected.
San Francisco’s Board of Appeals on March 7 sustained a 15‑day suspension of the tobacco‑sales permit for Liberty Market, finding the Department of Public Health’s enforcement record sufficient to uphold the penalty. The action followed testimony that a marked‑money decoy purchased cigarettes at the store during a police monitoring operation.
Johnson Ojo, representing the Department of Public Health, told the board the department determined that the Liberty Market permittee violated San Francisco Health Code section 1009.66 and cited California Penal Code provisions after a decoy purchase on Oct. 25, 2006. “Mister Singh did not deny the sale of cigarettes to a minor,” Ojo said, and the department asked the board to uphold its 15‑day suspension rather than the 90 days allowed for a first offense.
Galal Singh, who identified himself as the owner of Liberty Market, acknowledged receiving a citation and said the sale was an accident. He told the board that cigarette sales are the store’s main revenue source and said he had listed the business for sale; he asked the board to consider the potential hardship of the suspension. “Suspending [the] cigarette license for 15 days will possibly put me out of business,” Singh said.
Commissioners weighed the business hardship against public‑health enforcement. Several members expressed sympathy for Singh’s financial position but said the department had credible evidence of a sale to a minor; Commissioner Albright moved to uphold the department’s decision. The roll call—Commissioner Fung, President Knox, Vice President Garcia, Commissioner Albright and Commissioner Holland—voted unanimously to sustain the 15‑day suspension.
The suspension order remains in effect as the board recorded its decision. The Department of Public Health had noted the code gives the director authority to suspend a tobacco permit for up to 90 days on a first offense; it asked for 15 days in this case.
