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While conducting an OUI enforcement detail at approximately 7:15 p.m. on Friday night, Stamford Police Lt. Thomas Scanlan drove by the Hope Street Mini Mart when he spotted several “young males” in the store who appeared to be purchasing alcohol.
Scanlan followed three of the youths to a parking lot behind the store and detained them for questioning, determining that they were all under the age of 18. While he was detaining those three, another three teens walked into the back parking lot with alcohol. They too were detained after attempting to get in a car and flee.
Police said that after calling for backup, the Hope Street Mini Mart was shut down, and the clerk, West Haven resident Rakesh Ch, 28, was taken into custody and brought to the parking lot, where all of the teenagers positively identified him as the person who sold them the beer.
According to police, each of the teens were under 18 and lived in Darien with their parents, who they were released to. Ch told police that one of the teens, a 16-year-old from Darien, had a fraudulent Connecticut driver’s license. The teen was arrested and charged with second-degree forgery before being released to his parents at the scene.
While conducting their investigation into the illegal alcohol sales, several other cars filled with teenagers from Darien attempted to pull into the lot in an attempt to purchase beer. When speaking with those that pulled in, police said that the store is “well known to Darien youths as an easy spot to buy alcohol because they do not ask for identification.”
Ch was arrested and charged with seven counts of sale of alcohol to a minor. He is due in court on April 4 to answer the charges. The owner of the store, MD Uddin has been advised of the situation and the officers have made a referral to the State Liquor Commission for a follow-up.
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