Three youths were arrested for possession of marijuana, and a fourth was charged with selling a narcotic at the Mobil gas station on the corner of Sunset and Swarthmore last Sunday. The station was under surveillance by West Los Angeles Vice as a result of prior illegal activity. At about 5 p.m., LAPD officers observed a parked Honda Accord containing five males, who appeared to be smoking, rolling cigarettes and passing a pipe. At one point, the 18-year-old driver got out of the car and made a phone call. A short time later, a black Lexus drove up and marijuana was exchanged for money. The Lexus driver, an 18-year-old Palisades male, was charged with selling an illegal substance and transported to jail. Bail was set at $30,000. The driver of the Honda, along with a 17-year-old passenger and a 15-year-old passenger, was charged with possession. The other two 15-year-olds were not charged and were released to their parents. All three 15-year-olds are Palisades residents. Both cars were impounded as a result of the arrests. This was the latest in a series of recent incidents at the Mobil station, according to police. On August 1, a Mobil mini-mart cashier was arrested for selling alcohol to a minor. On September 14, eight minors were arrested for consuming alcohol and, in two cases, possession of cocaine and methamphetamine. On September 19, the Mobil cashier was again arrested for selling alcoholic beverages to minors and was booked. The problem with underaged criminal activity at Mobil has resulted in the LAPD requesting the Palisades Community Council’s assistance ‘in taking a stand against the Mobil station’s practice of selling alcohol to minors as well as allowing the property to be used as a haven for minors to consume alcoholic beverages and narcotics.’ ‘We have a policy of not selling to minors, but my cashiers have made mistakes,’ Mobil owner Saeed Kohanoff told the Palisadian-Post on Monday. ‘I am recruiting a new cashier as well as sending all of them to ABC [Alcohol Beverage Control] training.’ ‘We check ID all the time,’ Kohanoff added. ‘I don’t know how this cashier misjudged. I take full responsibility.’ Community outcry regarding the easy availability of alcohol to minors in the Palisades prompted the LAPD vice unit to start local surveillance in this area. In the September 14 incident there was no proof that the cashier had sold alcohol to minors, but according to Palisades Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore, at least three of the youth were drinking beer while sitting in a SUV parked in front of Mobil’s mini-mart. The mini-mart cashier was fraternizing with the juveniles and did nothing to stop them from consuming alcohol on the property, police said. Arrests were made for underage drinking, open containers of alcohol and curfew violations. The 17-year-old male and three females (two 16, one 17) were released to their parents after the arrest. All are Palisades residents. ‘Some parents are in denial that their kids are doing it,’ said Sgt. Ronnie Crump of the West Los Angles Police Vice squad. For example, he said, one girl told her father she had not been drinking, but just holding the beer for someone else. Crump then told the father to smell his daughter’s breath. ‘As we were completing the investigation,’ Crump said, ‘a vehicle pulled in, and we could clearly see three males drinking beer.’ In addition to the alcohol, drugs were discovered. An18-year-old was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) and was detained for possession of cocaine and crystal meth. A passenger, 18, was arrested for possession of crystal meth with the intent to sell. A second passenger, 17, was arrested for underage drinking and released to his father’s custody. Two are local residents and the third was homeless, but told officers that he stayed with other students in the area. While that operation was underway, a Palisades woman who had been in the Mobil mini-mart asked the police if they didn’t have something better to do than to pick on minors. That kind of attitude baffles Crump. ‘Why should there be a tolerance for minors’ unlawful behavior?’ he asked. ‘Do they want kids driving down Sunset drunk?’ Susan Strick, the neighborhood prosecutor for the City of Los Angeles, echoed Crump’s sentiments to the Post on Monday. ‘We’re trying to keep these kids safe and everyone else around them, too,’ she said. ‘I’m prosecuting a gentleman at the Mobil station,’ Strick added. ‘I’m concerned about these reports.’ Police reports are sent for review to the California ABC, the state agency that controls alcohol licenses. ‘If the police reports substantiate the claim, then we can file an accusation based on that,’ said Brandie Richard, supervisor of ABC investigation. ‘They [police] take criminal action, we take administrative action.’ Penalties range from fines to suspensions to revocation of the beer and wine license. If a business owner elects to have a hearing, he or she appears before an administrative law judge.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
