Following repeated violations and with their majority owner now in ICE custody, the Tusculum Beer Board Monday night revoked the Beer license of X Factor Smoke and Vape at 4765 East Andrew Johnson Highway across from Greene Valley.
Prior to the unanimous vote to void the license, board members heard from Tusculum Police Chief Danny Greene and the current operating manager of the business.
Chief Greene outlined a December 4th a planned law enforcement compliance operation which was conducted at the store to determine whether the business was adhering to state law as it pertained to the sale of alcohol and nicotine products to individuals under the age of 21. Using a 19-year-old underage operative, he was able to purchase a six pack of beer and a disposable vape. The operative was never asked for an I.D. or verification of age. Greene reported the Alcoholic Beverage Commission had conducted a similar operation in July of this year and charged Chiragkumar Patel. A check of the immigration database found he had illegally entered the country in 2013. He was taken into custody by immigration authorities and is currently in federal custody in Louisiana awaiting an immigration hearing.
Speaking to the board last night was Council for Patel who is also now operating the business by approval of the owners, all who have agreed that Patel would not be reopening or running the business moving forward. There are also discussions about selling the business. He admits after talking to all of his employees and talking to others who came to the business and customers, “Patel had a substantial disregard for this country’s laws as well as Tennessee state laws, as well as just not knowing how to do things correctly. ” The store he says is attempting to get a hemp license which it has also been working illegally without. “Things are still in Mr. Patel’s name. And so it’s very difficult for me to correct this mess that he’s left. The Department of Revenue is owed money. There are vendors that come daily to the store that are owed money. And we’re collecting their information and still making sure that we have a list of creditors. We’ve also had to address issues that Mr. Patel had left us with with the underage sales. We’ve made a 0 tolerance for anyone underage. We’re trying to curb it in that way I’ve done that before in stores that I personally own in Bristol, Tennessee, and now I manage also one in Johnson City. And since I’ve taken responsibility of that score back in April in the Johnson City store back in October, we’ve had 0 underage sales in those businesses. And so I hope to replicate that same application here at the X Factor store. I’ll be honest with you, gentlemen, the store is not really worth that much. From my analysis, and so it’s gonna be difficult to find a excited buyer where the sales are so low, and beer sales are also not a significant factor in that business. It’s really vape sales. So I can see why he was skirting the law, perhaps, or not doing his best to focus on that. Because it is the most predominant portion of his business, but I can assure you that no monetary interest in this business other than an hourly salary. And I’ve explained to them that I cannot break the law. I certainly have no intention to do so for any of them. So if an underage person wants to come in and purchase a $10 to $20 vape, they’re just not going to be able to buy it because we just don’t need their money. If Mr. Patel did, and looking at his life right now, it doesn’t seem like he did, I’m surprised that he even behaved in this way, but that’s another issue.”
“What I’m asking the board today is to give X Factor an opportunity to cleanse itself of the issues. It is now under new management, under my management, and I also have another person who I have hired as a manager. She is very informed of the issues that we’ve had. And she’s a local as well, so that’s a good thing for the community as well as the two employees that work in the store. And I hired one person that was fired by Mr. Patel because she refused to sell under age. And that excited me because I wanted somebody like that in the business that has the feeling of I don’t want this job because this isn’t right for us. And so that kind of culture, we want to support. And I know this this is the second time, so without taking too much more of your time, I would say that is under new hands. We hope better hands, and we hope to get those licenses if we don’t have them, we will not be selling cannabis next year. Right now, there’s a gray area. I say gray, because you gentlemen can come in and take it anytime you want, you don’t, that’s very graceful of you. We know the law in Tennessee. They should have had this license. It is absolutely absurd that they did. But the products that they have are legal, as I’m told that they have all test results. I’ve seen those test results for a lot of them. Some of them I don’t see that results for, and I don’t know how to identify them without Mr. Patel being here and telling me this is the vendor I bought them from.”
Saying the board had no other option since the license is in Patel’s name, the board voted to revoke the beer license, but did give the store until December 31st to either sell the remaining alcoholic beverage inventory or transfer it to another store location.
