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| ABC ADMINISTRATION DIRECTOR BUD ROBERTS |
Last week the ABC Administration Director, Bud Roberts, revoked the permit of a Conway business, The Draft.
This was done as the result of an administrative hearing conducted on January 11th.
This document states that Roberts held an administrative hearing to consider an alleged violation that occurred on December 8, 2016 at The Draft.
The document lists that The Draft had four prior violations for selling an alcoholic beverage to a "minor". November, 5, 2015; February 22, 2016; August 2, 2016 and September 20, 2016.
On December 8, 2016 ABC Enforcement Agent Chris Boyd along with Conway Police Officer Rick Shumate used an 18 year "cooperating minor" to conduct a compliance check.
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| POOCH PATROL OFFICER RICHARD SHUMATE, JR. OF THE CONWAY POLICE DEPARTMENT |
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| CHRIS BOYD - ONE OF TAINTED ABC ENFORCEMENT DIRECTOR BOYCE HAMLET'S ELITE AGENTS |
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Readers of this blog will recall that Boyd was reprimanded when he was an officer with the Fort Smith Police Department for his participation in the sexual harassment of a fellow officer. Boyd is also a defendant in a lawsuit that has been filed against the Fort Smith Police Department. Boyd has some serious medical issues and has been on leave for about half the time he has been on the ABC payroll.
Boyd is supervised by another former Ft. Smith cop, Jay Rider, that was investigated by the FBI for alleged involvement in a murder. He has never been cleared or exonerated as a suspect in that FBI investigation.
Character's like these two say a great deal about tainted ABC Enforcement Director Boyce Hamlet having the best, most elite law enforcement agency in the state.
Readers of this blog are keenly aware that Hamlet, who holds no law enforcement certification in the state of Arkansas and pretends to be a law enforcement officer even wearing an badge and gun, has serious issues with honesty and credibility.
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The document goes on to state that Officer Shumate and the minor, who was not really a minor in that she was 18 years of age which is the age of majority in Arkansas making her an adult, ordered a beer.
The document also states that the server, Mark Ford, may or may not have noticed that the 18 year old had a "minor's license".
Arkansas does not have any drivers license that uses the term minor on it.
The document indicates that the permit for The Draft is revoked, effective January 19th, as ABC Regulations 3.19 (1)(4).
The document continues by stating that "A sale of alcohol to a minor is one of the deadliest violations a permit holder can commit. When an outlet sells to our kids four times in less than a year, that outlet simply os trying to keep folks safe". It also states, "I have lost all confidence in the permit's ability to be a good steward to the ABC. I hereby Order this Permit Revoked for Cause. Doing so will save lives".
Readers will recall the mess that happened last year with Ernie Biggs in Little Rock. Roberts only wanted to suspend their permit for a short time and fine them after Ernie Biggs had several highly publicized occurrences of admitting underage individuals and having two violent incidents take place, one that involved an out-of-control bouncer severely injuring a customer.
We have repeatedly made posts about the ABC and other Arkansas law enforcement agencies illegal use of underage individuals in alcohol compliance or sting operations.
We have pointed out that Arkansas law does not contain an exception by law enforcement to use underage individuals in alcohol compliance operations or stings. Such use is against the law.
This fact was restated in a Congressional Report.
Unlike the ABC, the Arkansas Tobacco Control Agency has the use of underage individuals in tobacco compliance operations permissible under Arkansas law. You can read our post about that here.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a report entitled Youth and Alcohol:Laws and Enforcement. There was a portion of the report where use of underage individuals being used by law enforcement to commit an illegal act (purchasing alcoholic beverages) was questioned.
Another problem the ABC and law enforcement agencies have with these illegal operations is when they use an underage adult and refer to them as a minor.
In Arkansas, once you turn 18 years of age you are no longer considered to be a minor, under the law you are considered to be an adult.
There is no way that the ABC or any law enforcement agency can get around this fact.
The statue the ABC and law enforcement agencies use in these illegal entrapment operations only deals with sales to minors not underage adults. Read it for yourself.
If an individual charged with the offense of selling to a minor (under 18 years of age as defined by Arkansas law) actually sold a beverage to someone 18 or older but still under 21 years of age, this statue A.C.A § 3-3-201 does not apply. These outlets could be charged under A.C.A. § 3-3-203, but they were not. Perfect conditions for the courts to overturn these cases if appealed.
We are surprised that no permit holder or employee of a permit holder that has been charged under this statue has never fought it using the argument we have presented.
We exposed the erroneous use of the term minor by the ABC in this post.
Thanks to Jake Bleed, the talking head for the Department of Finance & Administration, we obtained the identities of underage individuals the ABC has on their payroll. You can see those posts here, here and here.
Another problem the ABC and law enforcement agencies has with these cases if they involve the ABC Enforcement Agents is tainted ABC Enforcement Director Boyce Hamlet. If the prosecutor that handles the citations in District or Circuit Court does not disclose that Hamlet, who directs and oversees these types of so called investigations, is a Brady Cop, then the rights of the individual(s) charged are being violated.
This fact was pointed out by Judge Mackie Pierce back in 2015 in a case the publisher of this blog filed concerning a Freedom of Information request that involved an investigation file of the Arkansas State Police concerning Boyce Hamlet's firing from the ASP for cheating on an exam and then lying multiple times to investigators.
We will make plans to attend the appeal hearing before the ABC Board that The Draft is sure to make and provide you with all the details.
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Officer Shumate is involved in lawsuit against the City of Conway. He lost one part of the suit but it is still ongoing. You can read his original complaint here.