1 STATE OF ILLINOIS ) ) SS: 2 COUNTY OF L A K E ) 3 4 5 LAKE COUNTY LIQUOR CONTROL COMISSION 6 RE: JUST IMAGINE ENTERTAINMENT, INC., d/b/a PMO CLUB 7 37476 North Route 59 8 Lake Villa, IL 60046 9 10 The above hearing held before Deborah L. 11 Severson, C.S.R., a notary public in and for the 12 County of Lake and State of Illinois; at the Lake 13 County Building, 18 North County Street, Conference 14 Room C, 10th Floor, Waukegan, Illinois, on Monday, 15 September 13, 2010, at the hour of 10:15 a.m. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Reported for DEPOSITION REPORTERS, by 23 Deborah L. Severson, C.S.R. 24 DEPOSITION REPORTERS 1 (847) 356-6834 1 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2 3 PRESENT: MS. SUZI SCHMIDT, LIQUOR COMMISSIONER MR. BERNARD WYSOCKI, BOARD ATTORNEY 4 MR. KEITH KAISER, LIQUOR INVESTIGATOR MS. LINDA WISCH, BOARD SECRETARY 5 6 ALSO PRESENT: MR. ALAN STARK, OWNER 7 SERGEANT TIMOTHY JONITES DEPUTY CHRISTOPHER COVELLI 8 9 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DEPOSITION REPORTERS 2 (847) 356-6834 1 MR. WYSOCKI: This is in the matter of Just 2 Imagine Entertainment, Inc., doing business as PMO 3 Club at 374764 Route 59 Lake Villa. Mr. Stark, have 4 you received a copy of the complaint and notice of 5 hearing? 6 MR. STARK: Yes, I did. 7 MR. WYSOCKI: And you understand what you're 8 being charged with? 9 MR. STARK: I read it, yes. 10 MR. WYSOCKI: And are you going to be 11 represented by counsel at all? 12 MR. STARK: No. 13 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. So the process that 14 will take place is that the officers will testify and 15 then you can ask them any questions that you have of 16 them. After they're finished then you can put on any 17 witnesses or make any statements you want to after 18 that. 19 MR. STARK: Okay. 20 MR. WYSOCKI: Anyone who's going to be 21 testifying I need you all to raise your right hand. 22 (PEOPLE WERE SWORN) 23 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. Officer Jonites, I'll 24 take you first. DEPOSITION REPORTERS 3 (847) 356-6834 1 Q. Would you state your name for the record, 2 please? 3 A. Sergeant Timothy Jonites, J-O-N-I-T-E-S. 4 Q. And you're with the Lake County Sheriff's 5 Department and you were so employed on August 5, 6 2010? 7 A. Yes, sir. 8 Q. And were you on occasion to be dispatched 9 out to the PMO Club? 10 A. Yes, I was, sir. 11 Q. And what was the nature of your dispatch? 12 A. We were dispatched out there for a battery 13 that had occurred at the establishment. We had a 14 female caller on the phone saying that she was beat 15 up at the bar. 16 Q. And when you arrived at the PMO Club, what 17 did you first notice? 18 A. I spoke with the victim along with Deputy 19 Zavoski (Phonetic). I observed the female was crying 20 and had several marks about her face and torn 21 clothing. And she had stated that she was inside the 22 establishment and she had an argument with a male 23 individual inside the bar at which time an uninvolved 24 female, she claimed she jumped her and knocked her to DEPOSITION REPORTERS 4 (847) 356-6834 1 the ground and continued to punch and kick her. 2 Q. What did you do then? 3 A. During the investigation we were attempting 4 to locate the female offender in this incident. At 5 that time I walked towards the bar from the parking 6 lot. I noticed numerous individuals outside in the 7 rear of the establishment with open containers of 8 liquor. 9 I then went inside attempting again to 10 located the female offender in this incident. Unable 11 to locate her within the bar, I was approached by a 12 male subject -- a male Hispanic subject within the 13 bar. The subject was highly intoxicated. He kept 14 trying to intervene in the investigation. He was 15 told by myself and other officers numerous times to 16 back up and back away from the investigation. 17 At that time with him being so highly 18 intoxicated I told the bartender not to serve him 19 anymore liquor. The bottle that he had was taken 20 away -- The bottle of beer that he had was taken 21 away from him due to his state of intoxication. 22 Again, went back outside for the second time 23 told the individuals outside that there's no liquor 24 allowed outside and that they needed to return inside DEPOSITION REPORTERS 5 (847) 356-6834 1 the bar. I then spoke with the bar owner. I told 2 him that the individuals needed to go inside. He 3 told the individuals to go inside with the liquor, 4 however, it did not appear that anyone was listening 5 to him. 6 After that we continued to investigate the 7 battery. People started going back into the bar at 8 that time. As we went to the further end of the bar 9 or, I'm sorry, the parking lot to speak again with 10 the victim of the battery, a second subsequent fight 11 broke out in the parking lot between two males. We 12 went over there. Again, there was numerous 13 individuals outside with open containers of liquor. 14 Prior to us running over there the fight had been 15 broken up by other individuals. 16 At that time I again encountered the male 17 Hispanic from earlier with another container of 18 liquor after I had told the bartender not to serve 19 him anymore liquor because of his intoxicated state. 20 At that time the owner again told people to go inside 21 the bar with the open liquor, however, it was my 22 opinion that I did -- the people just were not 23 listening to him. I again had to raise my voice 24 telling people to go inside the bar with the open DEPOSITION REPORTERS 6 (847) 356-6834 1 liquor or they would be arrested. 2 The owner of the bar became involved in a, I 3 don't want to say an argument, but he was trying to 4 tell me that the people could go outside the back 5 with open liquor. I advised him that he did not have 6 a Class B liquor license, that he was not allowed to 7 have liquor outside the bar without either a Class B 8 license or a permit for a special occasion. 9 I don't think the gentleman realized that I 10 used to be on the Liquor Commission until I told him 11 who I was. So I knew what the rules were. So at 12 that time we were able to get everybody back inside 13 the bar with the open liquor and we later left the 14 scene. 15 Q. Okay. And the bar owner that you were 16 talking about is Mr. Stark? 17 A. Yes, that's correct. 18 Q. Sitting right there? 19 A. Yes, sir. 20 Q. Do you have any questions of Officer 21 Jonites? 22 MR. STARK: 23 Q. Well, the person, the Mexican that you said 24 that was highly intoxicated, in your report you're DEPOSITION REPORTERS 7 (847) 356-6834 1 saying it was Cory, which is this gentleman here, and 2 he's not the individual that -- 3 A. No, he's not the individual I was talking 4 about. That's not my report, sir. 5 Q. Okay. Then I'll to have reread it but -- 6 A. It's Deputy Zavoski's report. 7 Q. Pardon? 8 A. That is Deputy Zavoski's report that he 9 identifies Cory. 10 Q. Okay. But he's identified as Cory being 11 intoxicated. 12 A. I did not identify him as Cory. 13 Q. Okay. 14 A. I don't know who the individual was. I 15 never got his name or anything, but this is not the 16 individual I was talking about. 17 Q. Okay. 18 A. It was a shorter heavy set Hispanic male. 19 Q. Okay. In the report it was pointed out that 20 there were about 20 people outside and then in the 21 second report it was reported that 40 people were 22 outside? 23 A. I would estimate it between 20 and 40, yes. 24 Q. Between 20 and 40? DEPOSITION REPORTERS 8 (847) 356-6834 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. Okay. And you're saying that you told me 3 and my bartender not to serve this individual? 4 A. No, I told the bartender not to serve that 5 Hispanic individual who was highly intoxicated. I 6 didn't tell you that. I told her that. 7 Q. Okay. But in the report it states that a 8 male bartender was told? 9 A. That's not my report, sir. 10 Q. Okay. Well, I'm not sure whose report. I'm 11 just -- That's all I have to say. 12 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. Officer, would you 13 state your name, please? 14 A. Sure. It's Deputy Christopher Covelli, 15 C-O-V-E-L-L-I. 16 Q. And you were part of the investigation at 17 the PMO Club on August 5, 2010? 18 A. Yes, sir, I was. 19 Q. And were you dispatched there also? 20 A. I was. 21 Q. How many officers were present at the scene 22 there? 23 A. I believe there were four of us that were 24 present at the scene. DEPOSITION REPORTERS 9 (847) 356-6834 1 Q. And when you arrived there, what did you 2 notice? 3 A. When I arrived there, I had responded, I was 4 there a few minutes after the primary deputy and 5 Sergeant Jonites. I noticed there was a large crowd 6 outside. Sergeant Jonites and the primary deputy 7 were interviewing the victim who had called 911 8 stating she was battered inside the bar. 9 And at that point I was asked to see if I 10 could locate an offender which the victim had 11 described to the responding deputies. So I 12 approached the rear of the bar and noted a very large 13 crowd outside. I noticed there were several people 14 outside drinking open containers of alcohol. There 15 were several subjects being loud and disorderly. 16 There was a heavy set male Hispanic who was 17 especially loud and disorderly who continually 18 interfered with our investigation into the battery. 19 He was very belligerent, stating we had no right to 20 be there, no right to be talking to people. 21 We searched for the offender inside and 22 outside the bar. We weren't able to locate her. We 23 began interviewing subjects who witnessed the fight 24 between these two females. And, again, we were DEPOSITION REPORTERS 10 (847) 356-6834 1 interrupted by this heavy set male Hispanic who was 2 obviously heavily intoxicated and, again, interfered 3 with our investigation. And it wasn't until we 4 basically had to warn him he was going to be arrested 5 for obstructing our investigation. He was ushered 6 inside along with everybody else. 7 And as we continued our investigation, 8 another fight broke out outside the bar. We exited 9 the bar. There were -- Another large group had 10 developed still with open containers. The male 11 Hispanic that was causing our problem, again, created 12 a problem for us. He was drinking again outside of 13 the bar. And eventually things calmed down. The 14 fight was broken up between the two males that had 15 started outside. And we were able to get to the 16 bottom of the problem and get people rides out of 17 there that needed to be given rides. 18 Q. Now, the location of this bar is on a State 19 highway, correct? 20 A. It's right off Route 59. 21 Q. And it's a major intersection, correct? 22 A. Yes, sir. 23 Q. And people are out there with what cans, 24 bottles? DEPOSITION REPORTERS 11 (847) 356-6834 1 A. Bottles of beer. 2 Q. Bottles of beer. Okay. Did you speak at 3 all or observe any conversation with the bar owner? 4 A. I did not. 5 Q. Did you witness any of the other people to 6 be highly intoxicated? 7 A. There were several people there that were 8 highly intoxicated, you know, that were hardly 9 capable of standing up on their own. 10 Q. All right. Do you have any questions of 11 Officer Covelli? 12 MR. STARK: Well, I'd just like to point out 13 it's not a major intersection there. It's on Route 14 59 and Bald Eagle there and that's not a major one. 15 And everybody was not out by the road 16 there. They're in the back of the bar, can't be seen 17 pretty much by the road. That's just one point I'd 18 want to bring up. 19 But the other thing is I'm just confused 20 about the other officer saying that it wasn't his 21 report about Cory and -- Isn't this your report 22 here? I mean it states that you advised Cory not to 23 drink. 24 SERGEANT JONITES: I haven't seen my report DEPOSITION REPORTERS 12 (847) 356-6834 1 today. 2 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I don't have it. 3 SERGEANT JONITES: If you look at the bottom 4 where it says reporting officer, what does it say? 5 MR. STARK: It says your name. 6 SERGEANT JONITES: Okay. I have not seen my 7 report today. 8 MS. WISCH: Your report is on here. I'm 9 sorry I didn't make you a copy. You want me to make 10 you a copy, Suzi? 11 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Yes. 12 SERGEANT JONITES: I can say that, not to 13 feel like I'm continually picking on them, but I've 14 gone by several times since this incident and there's 15 always people out back drinking. 16 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I live very close to 17 there. 18 MR. STARK: From that point on they're 19 strictly not to be out there. Even I don't go out 20 there. I only drink Coke and I don't go out there. 21 SERGEANT JONITES: They finally put a sign 22 on the door that said no alcohol outside. 23 MR. STARK: I will very strictly enforce 24 that. DEPOSITION REPORTERS 13 (847) 356-6834 1 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Okay. 2 MR. WYSOCKI: Did you have any other 3 questions of this witness? 4 MR. STARK: Not with this officer. 5 SERGEANT JONITES: Yeah, my report does say 6 Cory Beris (Phonetic). It may be that Deputy Zavoski 7 advised me that's what the name was. 8 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Okay, right. But it 9 wasn't him? 10 SERGEANT JONITES: It was not him, no. 11 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. Do you want to go ahead 12 and make your witness testify or you testify? 13 MR. STARK: Okay. Just like to let you know 14 how things started I guess. I mean that night was a 15 Thursday night and the bar was pretty much dead. 16 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Yeah, because 17 everybody was outside. 18 MR. STARK: No, because of Lake Villa Days, 19 they just started that night. And actually we were 20 thinking about closing early and -- but then all of a 21 sudden we got an onslaught of people from Lake Villa 22 Days and I mean there was probably 20, 30 people 23 there altogether. And, you know, that's pretty much 24 how it started. Everybody, I mean they only had a DEPOSITION REPORTERS 14 (847) 356-6834 1 chance to maybe have one or two beers actually, the 2 people that showed up there. 3 And then the argument did start between 4 the girl and Shawn. And we brought Shawn in right 5 away and Stephanie tried to calm the other girl down. 6 I mean that's why she got involved in it. And she 7 didn't jump her. She took her to the other part of 8 the parking lot, moved her back and tried to calm her 9 down. And then those two got into it just, you know, 10 grabbed each other, went down to the ground and I was 11 over there, I broke them up right away. Other 12 customers helped out. It just -- That was all that 13 amounted to the battery. It was -- 14 As far as the drinking, I was never told 15 by anybody that anybody was intoxicated and cut 16 anybody off. And I talked to my bartender after that 17 when I got this report. She was, you know, she'll 18 testify that she was never told by anybody to cut 19 anybody off. So that was a complete surprise to me 20 to get that report two weeks later. 21 And the report about the battery, 22 permitting a battery, I mean I didn't even know. It 23 wasn't really a battery. Nobody was charged with 24 anything, but I in no way permitted anything. And DEPOSITION REPORTERS 15 (847) 356-6834 1 the officers stated that I was hostile towards them. 2 I apologize if that's the way you felt. I've never 3 been hostile towards anybody. I mean not a customer, 4 not an employee, certainly not an officer. I give 5 everybody respect and that's how I like to be 6 treated. 7 I'd like them to testify just to the 8 fact that, you know, nobody was told not to serve 9 anybody. 10 MR. WYSOCKI: Before we get to that I have 11 some questions of you. You're aware of the fact that 12 the liquor license does not permit alcoholic 13 beverages to be outside of your premises? 14 MR. STARK: Yes, I definitely know that. 15 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. And as far as this 16 situation where there were people milling around 17 outside, you understand with bottles of beer out on 18 the public way that it endangers the public? 19 MR. STARK: Yes. 20 MR. WYSOCKI: Do you provide any type of 21 security personnel for your establishment? 22 MR. STARK: When we have some special events 23 and things that we know it's going to be very 24 crowded, we have security. DEPOSITION REPORTERS 16 (847) 356-6834 1 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. And they're also 2 mindful of the fact that you cannot take liquor 3 outside of the establishment? 4 MR. STARK: Yes. 5 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. Do you have difficulty 6 in managing people from taking liquor outside? 7 MR. STARK: No. I won't deny that people, 8 when they go out to smoke, that they have taken their 9 drinks with them. 10 MR. WYSOCKI: Have you thought of taking, 11 you know, plastic cups or something like that to -- 12 MR. STARK: Well, most of the time that's 13 what they would do, but I can't say that they do it 14 all the time, though. 15 MR. WYSOCKI: Right. But you understand 16 that unless you have a Class B license, that you 17 can't take the alcohol outside? 18 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Right. 19 MR. STARK: Right. No, I understand that. 20 MR. WYSOCKI: In terms of -- You've taken 21 the Basset Program and have all of your employees 22 also taken the Basset Program? 23 MR. STARK: To my knowledge -- I don't know 24 about all of them, no. DEPOSITION REPORTERS 17 (847) 356-6834 1 MR. WYSOCKI: All right. That's all the 2 questions I have. Now, you can have your next person 3 testify. 4 MR. STARK: My bartender Annie. She was the 5 bartender that night. 6 MR. WYSOCKI: You'll have to state your name 7 and where you live. 8 MS. LASS: Ann Lass, L-A-S-S. 9 MR. WYSOCKI: And where do you live? 10 MS. LASS: 215 South Milwaukee Avenue, Lake 11 Villa, Illinois. 12 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. 13 MR. STARK: Ann, at any time during that 14 night were you approached and told that anybody was 15 too intoxicated, that they should be cut off from 16 drinking? 17 MS. LASS: No, not at all. 18 MR. STARK: That's basically all, all I 19 need. 20 MR. WYSOCKI: Were you the bartender that 21 night? 22 MS. LASS: Yes, I was. 23 MR. WYSOCKI: What time did you start your 24 shift? DEPOSITION REPORTERS 18 (847) 356-6834 1 MS. LASS: I start at 7:00. 2 MR. WYSOCKI: And when this fight took 3 place, did you stay inside the bar or did you go 4 outside? 5 MS. LASS: I was inside most of the time 6 until the officer -- I talked to the officer. 7 MR. WYSOCKI: Did you attempt to get the 8 people back inside? 9 MS. LASS: Yes, I tried. Yes, I did. 10 MR. WYSOCKI: And you weren't able to? 11 MS. LASS: No, they came in, some of them 12 came in and then there was some out there and they 13 came in and asked some of the bartenders, not 14 bartenders, customers what they saw or whatever. 15 They'd walk outside or a couple more I'd be pulling 16 back in. So it's kind of like when people go by an 17 accident, they kind of slow down and they look, you 18 know. 19 MR. WYSOCKI: They kept going out? 20 MS. LASS: Yeah. So we just pulled them out 21 there and we kept telling them they had to come in or 22 to come in. 23 MR. WYSOCKI: And is it your policy to, if 24 they're going out for a smoke, to take liquor with DEPOSITION REPORTERS 19 (847) 356-6834 1 them? 2 MS. LASS: No, but it's happened. I mean, 3 you know, it's -- I mean, no, it's not our policy, 4 but they go out to smoke and whatever, but, no, I 5 mean we're really tight on it now, nobody's allowed 6 out with water, nothing. 7 MR. WYSOCKI: All right. Do you have anyone 8 else that you wanted to testify? 9 MR. STARK: Well, I mean he stated that Cory 10 was the individual that he said was intoxicated but 11 that's been brought out that it wasn't. 12 MR. WYSOCKI: It wasn't him. 13 MR. STARK: It wasn't Cory. 14 MR. WYSOCKI: Anything else? 15 MR. STARK: Well, the officer also said that 16 he told me and I just, you know, deny that I was ever 17 told that anybody, even Randal was intoxicated which 18 I, you know, that's about all I can say, yeah. 19 SERGEANT JONITES: Mr. Wysocki, can I clear 20 up something here? I think they've testified several 21 times that the fight between the two girls happened 22 in the parking lot. We were told when we got there, 23 that the fight happened inside the bar. We also had 24 witnesses that told us that it happened inside the DEPOSITION REPORTERS 20 (847) 356-6834 1 bar. 2 And then there was a second subsequent 3 fight in the parking lot involving Shawn and another 4 individual. And, again, that's what we were told by 5 witnesses. 6 MR. STARK: And when the officer approached 7 me in the bar and stated to me that he was going to 8 send us to Commission because of the fight in the 9 bar, that's the only thing I pointed out to him the 10 fight was outside of the bar. 11 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: On your property? 12 MR. STARK: Yeah. And I wasn't trying to be 13 hostile. 14 SERGEANT JONITES: I never said you were 15 hostile. 16 MR. STARK: Well, in the report it does. 17 SERGEANT JONITES: I think what happened was 18 you tried to argue the point of the Class B liquor 19 license with me and I told you that that was wrong. 20 MR. STARK: That was a misunderstanding 21 because I'm fully aware and I know you are. And I 22 mean I take responsibility for that. 23 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. In prior actions there 24 was an open after hours in '07, there was a serving DEPOSITION REPORTERS 21 (847) 356-6834 1 outside in '07, there was a fine for that one and the 2 first one and 250 and this last one was 500 and took 3 place in '07. But the last one was the jello 4 wrestling outside, if you recall that one. 5 Okay. This will be taken under 6 advisement and you'll receive a decision in the mail 7 within seven days. Thank you for coming in. 8 MR. STARK: Thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Thank you. 10 (DELIBERATIONS HELD) 11 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: $750 fine. The 12 second one, overserving, 500 for the second one. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DEPOSITION REPORTERS 22 (847) 356-6834 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS ) 2 ) SS. 3 COUNTY OF LAKE ) 4 5 6 I HEREBY CERTIFY that I reported in 7 shorthand the proceedings had in the above-entitled 8 cause, and that the foregoing Report of Proceedings 9 is a true, correct, and complete transcript of my 10 shorthand notes so taken at the time and place set 11 forth. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Deborah L. Severson, CSR 084-001777 19 20 21 22 23 24 DEPOSITION REPORTERS 23 (847) 356-6834