Mundelein liquor panel fines businesses

Two Mundelein businesses were fined Monday night because employees sold liquor to underage customers.

A third business, a bar, was fined because two employees sold alcoholic drinks to customers without having undergone state-required training.

The businesses were punished during a liquor commission hearing at the village's main fire station. Mayor Kenneth H. Kessler and the town's six trustees comprise the commission, and the panel levied the fines unanimously.

Garden Fresh Mundelein, which operates a store at 400 Townline Road, was fined $1,300. An employee who didn't have proper alcohol training sold liquor to a customer under 21, officials said.

The purchase was part of a police sting. The violation was the store's second, officials said.

The employee who sold the alcohol was fired, a lawyer for the company said.

In a separate case, a company called Mundelein Village Liquors was fined $1,000 because a worker at DiCarlo's Armanetti Fine Wines & Liquors, 425 Townline Road, sold liquor to an underage customer working with police.

That, too, was the store's second violation, officials said. As at Garden Fresh, the employee was fired, a company representative said.

Kessler stressed the need for employees to follow the laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol to minors. He relayed a personal incident in which he was refused alcohol at a suburban athletic arena, despite his obvious age, because he didn't have his driver's license with him and lauded the arena staff for its strict enforcement of the law.

Additionally, Fuel Bar and Grill, 330 Townline Road, was fined $600 because two of its workers who hadn't taken alcohol-related training sold drinks to customers. The customers in both incidents in question were older than 21, officials emphasized.