Mundelein gas station's fate unclear
The owners of a Mundelein gas station will have to wait at least two weeks to learn if trustees will revoke their business license because of a now-former employee's sexual comments to female customers.
The village board on Monday unanimously agreed the actions of an employee at the Marathon station, 301 Townline Road, were a public nuisance and the business should be punished.
The panel could not, however, agree on a penalty.
The case stemmed from separate incidents involving Benjamin J. Brophy, 32, of 301 Cherrywood Court, Vernon Hills.
In June 2006, Brophy asked a female customer if she was wearing underwear, witnesses testified Monday. And in October 2007, he offered another customer $40 to have sex with him, according to testimony and police records.
Village attorney Chuck Smith called Brophy's behavior reprehensible.
Brophy was arrested after the second confrontation. He pleaded guilty to solicitation of a sexual act and was sentenced to one year supervision, fined $200 and court costs and ordered to have a mental evaluation, police said.
Brophy was not arrested after the 2006 incident because the victim opted not to file charges. At Monday's hearing, the victim testified she didn't press charges because she thought Brophy would be fired.
Smith argued the station owners, Jose Koduvathra and Baby Joseph, were at fault because they didn't fire Brophy after the first complaint.
Monday's two-hour hearing included testimony from both victims, the police officers who investigated the allegations and the station's owners.
Brophy did not attend the hearing.
Additionally, five customers who weren't involved in the two allegations testified on behalf of the station owners.
The owners' attorney, Jeffrey Strange, tried to paint his clients as victims, too.
"They run a business that has a loyal following and helps the community," Strange told the board.
After deciding Brophy's actions were a nuisance, trustees weighed several possible punishments.
The board had three options -- a fine, temporary suspension of the business license or permanent revocation of the license.
A $3,000 fine and a three-day suspension was proposed, as was a $1,000 fine and a seven-day suspension. The board couldn't agree on a punishment or a potential settlement with the owners, so officials opted to continue the discussion at its next meeting on Jan. 28.
That session will start at 7 p.m. at the main fire station, 1000 N. Midlothian Road.
The case was the second of its kind to reach the village board in recent months. In November, the panel suspended the business license for the Clark gas station at 4 E. Hawley St. for 15 days and fined the owner $5,000.
That action followed the arrest of one employee who accosted a female customer. Going back to 2005, four other female customers said they were solicited for sex at the Clark station.