Thread: Danbury police, ICE arrest woman, Alleged illegal liquor, to

Danbury police, ICE arrest woman
Alleged illegal liquor, tobacco shop busted

04/29/2008 06:33:27

DANBURY - The prices were a little high at the store that 30-year-old Monica Chabla operated at 31 New St. - $3 for a single beer and $7 for a pack of cigarettes - according to police.
Still, business was brisk. After all, the sign on the door said the store was open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and the foot traffic into and out of the basement apartment where Chabla, her husband and four children lived was enough to draw the attention of neighbors, who complained to police.

But a bigger problem, aside from the unhappy neighbors, was the alcohol and tobacco Chabla was selling lacked stamps from the state Department of Revenue Services, police said, meaning no taxes had been paid on them.

"Either they were getting them from the black market, the Carolinas or from an Indian reservation," said Detective Lt. James Fisher, head of the Special Investigations Division of the Danbury Police Department.

On Friday, Danbury police and agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided the apartment in a two-family house located two doors away from fire department headquarters. They seized about 10 cases of beer and several cartons of cigarettes.

Chabla faces multiple counts involving the unlicensed sale of alcohol and cigarettes, as well as risk of injury to a minor. Her husband, who wasn't present when the raid took place just after 3 p.m., wasn't charged, police said.

But two customers who were at the store were taken into custody by ICE. Neither was identified by police, but one had an outstanding warrant for deportation and the second had two prior convictions for drunken driving, according to authorities.

Federal authorities also are investigating the immigration status of Chabla and her husband, Fisher said.

ICE spokeswoman Paula Grenier said no information was available on the case Monday.

The raid was the second time in as many months that police and federal authorities have busted an establishment suspected of illegally selling alcohol and tobacco.

On March 13, two men were arrested for selling untaxed liquor and tobacco out of their apartment on South Avenue, and last year police charged a Belmont Circle man with selling beer, wine and hard liquor from his residence to area high school students.

"We usually have one or two cases like this a year," Fisher said.

During the months-long investigation leading to the New Street arrest, police found no indication that Chabla had been selling to minors, Fisher said.

Contact John Pirro at jpirro@newstimes.com or at (203) 731-3342.

http://www.newstimes.com/ci_9090253?source=most_viewed

$3 for a single beer and $7 for a pack of cigarettes

and they were UNTAXED? Talk about colossal greed!

What a joke this is common in low income neighborhoods all over the USA

Someone wasn't spreading the grease