May 19, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
A $2,500 fine!
The Smithville Beer Board met Wednesday, May 17 and fined two local restaurants $2,500 each for illegally selling alcohol to someone underage.
The undercover investigation was conducted on March 16 by the Smithville Police Department and agents of the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
Owners of the Los Lobos Restaurant at 106 East Broad Street appeared at the beer board meeting Wednesday but didn’t contest the punishment. The owner of the Fiesta Jalisco Restaurant at 130 Walmart Drive was not present.
Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins said that Trina Guerra of Los Lobos Restaurant and Jose Barajas of Fiesta Jalisco Restaurant were cited for illegally serving beer for consumption on the premises to a 19-year-old informant working for the Smithville Police Department. A third person, Brandy Jackson, a clerk at Smithville Discount Wine & Spirits located at 413 East Broad Street, was also cited for illegally selling the informant a bottle of wine from the liquor store. This was her second citation within a month for the same type of offense.
The liquor store has reportedly been fined twice now by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission for the actions of Jackson, their clerk.
The cases against these three clerks from the March investigation are apparently still pending in court.