Disco Operator Gets Probation
The would-be operator of a teen-age disco was given a suspended three-year sentence and placed on probation after pleading guilty to possessing cocaine in his office at the Distillery West.
Among the conditions of Richard Vander’s probation are that he enter a drug-treatment program and pay a fine of $200. He was sentenced Tuesday by Vista Superior Court Judge Richard Mudd.
Vander, 37, had operated the Solana Beach nightclub for adults and was seeking to reestablish it as an alcohol-free teen-age club when he was arrested in November, 1987. The club remains vacant.
In exchange for his guilty plea to possession of cocaine, prosecutors dropped their charge that he was an ex-felon illegally in possession of a handgun.
The arrest came when sheriff’s detectives, saying they wanted to discuss using Vander as an informant, met with him in his office and detected what they believed was cocaine in his office.
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