Published in the February 4, 2019 edition.

By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD — For the next month, there will be one less establishment in Wakefield from which to purchase tobacco-related products.

The Board of Health last week suspended the tobacco permit of “Jackpot” (aka “Noah’s”) at 602 Main St. If the store name “Jackpot” doesn’t ring a bell, it may be because owner Sumesh Patel has not gotten around to updating the signage on the convenience store that he purchased nine months ago in the retail plaza at the corner of Main and Nahant streets.

Patel was at the hearing last Wednesday when the Board of Health voted unanimously to suspend his tobacco permit for 30 days.

On January 18, 2019, the Board of Health sent a certified letter to Patel’s home address in Danvers formally notifying him of four violations of the Wakefield Board of Health’s Regulations Restricting the Sale of Tobacco Products. Those four violations were discovered in the course of a single compliance check. A compliance check consists of sending a minor into a store to attempt to purchase tobacco products.

“On Thursday, January 10, 2019 at 2:16 p.m.,” the BOH letter states, “an 18-year-old female entered Jackpot at 602 Main Street, Wakefield. A clerk sold the underage youth a pack of Juul pods $17.00.” The letter goes on to explain that this is a violation of the Board of Health Regulations Restricting the Sale of Tobacco Products, Section D, which prohibits sales of nicotine delivery products to minors.

At the hearing, Maureen Buzby, the town’s Tobacco Control Prevention Officer, explained that immediately after any store fails a compliance check, she enters the store to inform the owner or store personnel of the failure. That was when Buzby observed three more violations of the town’s Tobacco Regulations.

According to the letter, she “saw flavored Juul products displayed on the counter.” Section I of the Tobacco Regulations prohibits the sale of “any flavored tobacco product or nicotine delivery device except in retail tobacco stores.”

The fact that the Juul products were displayed on the counter, within access to customers constituted the third violation. Local regs prohibit self-service displays of such products.

Also, while Buzby was in the store, she observed a two-pack of cigars for sale for $1.49, well below the minimum price of $5 set forth in the Tobacco Regulations. The higher minimum price is intended to make such products less accessible to minors. This constituted the fourth violation.

At the hearing, Patel said that the clerk working that day had previously been working at a store in Lynnfield where the age is 18 and he didn’t know that in Wakefield the age to buy tobacco products was 21.

But Health Director Ruth Clay pointed out that whenever there is a new application for a tobacco permit, Buzby visits the establishment to perform a “new store inspection” and goes over all of the regulations.

Buzby also reminded Patel at the hearing that as of Dec. 31, 2018, Massachusetts set a statewide minimum age of 21 for purchasing tobacco products.

Patel indicated that he was unaware of that.

Patel also claimed that the Juul products displayed on the counter were put there by an employee by mistake and they have since been removed. He also said that the underpriced two-pack cigars were no longer being carried in the store.

Buzby said that when she does the initial inspection, she explains to the store owner that state law requires that anyone who looks to be under 27 years old must be asked to show an ID.

“You can check every single person if you want,” she added.

Buzby said that she had never before seen as many as four violations in one compliance check.

Board of Health chairman Elaine Silva asked Patel if he had ever owned a retail store before this one. Patel admitted that he had not.

In the Board of Health letter sent to Patel, each violation was assessed a separate fine. The first violation, for underage selling, carried a fine of $100. For the second violation the fine escalated to $200 and then to $300 each for the third and fourth violations.

But Town Counsel Thomas Mullen, who was present at the hearing, recommended against “stacking” the fines, given that they all occurred on the same day.

“I think the appropriate penalty is a single $300 fine and a 30-day suspension,” Mullen said.

The board voted to suspend the license for 30 days and levy one $300 fine. They decided that the suspension would start at midnight on Monday, March 4 and end at midnight on Tuesday, March 5.

Buzby made it clear to Patel that all tobacco and tobacco-related products must be removed from store shelves for the entirety of the 30-day suspension, including all devices and nicotine juices used for vaping.

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A second tobacco suspension hearing was also scheduled for last Wednesday but had to be rescheduled after Faizan Ahmed, the owner of Artisan Vapor Co. at 18 Albion St. notified the Board of Health that he was in Pakistan and would be unavailable for the hearing.

Artisan Vapor faces a 7-day suspension of its Tobacco and Nicotine Delivery Permit after a clerk reportedly sold a vape device to a Health Department staff member who went in with a 20 percent-off coupon.

The Board of Health regulations prohibit any store from accepting any discount coupon for any tobacco product or nicotine delivery device.

As this is the second violation for Artisan Vapor within 36 months, the store faces a $200 fine and a 7-day suspension of its permit. The hearing on that case has been rescheduled to the board’s Feb. 20 meeting.