Undercover investigation leads to underage alcohol sales charges

Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: May 28, 2008

More than a dozen people face drug and alcohol-related charges after a two-weekend investigation by the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office and the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Sheriff’s deputies and ABC agents investigated sales of alcohol to minors at businesses during the weekends of May 17 and May 24, police said.

Authorities checked 26 businesses the first weekend and 25 the second.

Charged were:
- David East, 18, with possession of marijuana and underage possession of alcohol;
- Ashley S. Lehman, 21, of Amherst, with selling alcohol to a minor;
- Justin C. Martin, 18, with selling alcohol to an underage person;
- Pinkakinbhai Patel, with selling alcohol to an underage person;
- Ian Cash, 20, with sale of alcohol to an intoxicated person;
- Ernest Miller, 21, of Madison Heights, with buying alcohol for a minor;
- Daniel Deaver, 18, with underage possession of alcohol;
- Daniel Staton, 20, with underage possession of alcohol;
- Nathaniel Miller with underage possession of alcohol;
- Gary Smith Jr., 20, with underage possession of alcohol;
- Bryan Kosegi, 19, with underage possession of alcohol;
- Travis Lee Mays, 20, of Evington, with underage possession of alcohol;
- Brian A. Burnett, 18, of Lynchburg, with underage possession of alcohol;
- Albert L. Dixon, 50, of Amherst County, with obstruction of justice;
- Randall Wade, 20, with driving on a suspended license; and
- two unnamed juveniles, one with underage possession of alcohol and one with selling alcohol to a minor.

Businesses were charges were made included Apple Market on Virginia 151,Sheetz and the Food Lion in the Amelon Square shopping center.

Businesses charged with selling alcohol to minors will face administrative reviews of their ABC licenses by the department’s board.

The operation was paid for by an ABC grant, police said.