ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County Sheriff John Mina is cracking down on after-hours clubs which sell alcohol illegally.
Channel 9 Spoke with the Sheriff exclusively about the problem, just hours after a shooting outside of an after-hours club Monday morning.
Deputies say a total of 4 people were injured outside of Upstate Hall when gunfire broke out shortly before 7 am.
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The Sheriff told channel 9 Upstate Hall had been on a watchlist for a “Strike Team” unit formed around 6 months ago.
It’s a special team that uses undercover and uniformed officers to target illicit after-hours clubs.
Just one month ago, the strike team arrested the CEO of Upstate Hall and a bartender for selling alcohol without a license and after the 2 AM county deadline for liquor sales.
“We’ve been out there for the past several months targeting them specifically because we know that they are operating illegally,” said Sheriff Mina, “We were making arrests there. But when the arrest is just a misdemeanor, It’s kind of hard for law enforcement. Our hands are tied.”
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Aside from a new strike team that is now visiting and monitoring possible illicit after-hours clubs, the Sheriff is also pushing to make the illegal sale of alcohol a felony. It is currently a 2nd degree misdemeanor under state law.
Mina said after-hours clubs have been a problem in our community for years. He believes after-hours clubs attract shootings, drug sales and gambling.
According to the Sheriff, aside from Upstate Hall, both the Washington Hookah Lounge on Old Winter Garden Road and the PR House on Lake Underhill Road had been illegally selling alcohol in just recent months.
The Washington Hookah Lounge was the site of a shooting that hurt three people in October.
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Meanwhile, Investigators said the now shut-down PR House had been “a hotbed of criminal activity for years.” Since 2016, it was allegedly the site of drug sales, shootings, and an overdose.
The Sheriff believes current penalties under state statute aren’t enough of a deterrent for after-hours clubs.
Currently, under state law, people who sell alcohol without proper licenses are charged with a second degree misdemeanor which is punishable by up to 60 days in prison and a $500 fine.
“They’re just going to bond out, many of those charges are plead away or they will pay a small fee and keep operating,” said the Sheriff.
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It’s why Mina is now advocating for a change to the law. It would target after-hours clubs by making illegal alcohol sales a felony instead of a misdemeanor.
He also wants to increase fines so that a first offense would come with a $5,000 fine and subsequent violations could reach up to $20,000.
The change would also mean those convicted for illegal alcohol sales couldn’t legally buy a gun in the state or get a liquor license in the future. The state bars convicted felons from doing either.
“Maybe if we had had stiffer penalties for these afterhours clubs operating illegally and selling alcohol till all hours of the morning, we can prevent this on the front end,” said Mina.
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