Man busted for selling alcohol on Sunday

Alcohol is banned from being sold on Sundays in Washington Parish, but that didn’t stop one man from setting up shop in a Bogalusa neighborhood last weekend.

Bogalusa resident Richard Myres, 46, was cited for selling alcohol after hours and for not possessing a liquor license after Washing-ton Parish Sheriff deputies saw him selling beer and mixed drinks out of his SUV last Sunday morning.

Previously, the Wash-ington Parish Sheriff’s Office had received several complaints from local residents that the area around 2nd Ave-nue had been receiving unusual amounts of traffic on Sundays, ac-cording to a WPSO statement.

The Washington Pa-rish Street Crimes action team, in conjunction with the Boga-lusa Police Depart-ment, followed up with an investigation last Sunday, beginning with a traffic stop.

“Det. Robert Harris, a member of the taskforce, made a traffic stop on a passenger car for a simple violation of no turn signal,” according to WPSO. “As the investigation progressed Harris observed an open beer in the center console of the vehicle. Det. Harris asked the driver about the beer as it was unusual for someone to possess beer on a Sunday morning. The violator advised that he had just purchased the alcohol from a street vendor for $3.”

Investigators soon learned that a man, later identified as Myers, was selling beer and liquor out of his SUV at the corner of 2nd Avenue and 4th Street.

“Officers arrived at the location and quickly found a man in a matching vehicle at that location,” according to WPSO. “The suspect had several tents set up on the property and even had food being prepared, A search of the vehicle revealed a large a-mount of alcohol, in-cluding two large ice chests filled with beer. A further look at the vehicle revealed several unopened cases of beer and two flats of liquor.”

The alcohol was then seized, and Myers was issued the citations, which carry $100 fines and up to 30 days in jail on both charges.