Shopkeeper Sold Liquor in Desert Crash, Jury Finds

The liquor store owner who sold beer to a group of Anaheim teens later involved in a fatal desert highway crash was found guilty Thursday of selling alcohol to minors.

Masood M. Zaman, owner of Me-N-Paul’s Market, will be sentenced on Nov. 8 in Municipal Court in Fullerton for selling 12-packs of beer to the group of Katella High School students, four of whom died in the crash near Victorville. Zaman faces a minimum $250 fine and from 24 to 32 hours community service.

Neither Zaman nor his attorney could be reached for comment Thursday after the verdict, which ended the second trial of the misdemeanor case. Jurors in the first trial could not reach a verdict; unlike the panel in the second, they had not been told of the crash.

Defense attorney Edward R. Munoz argued in both cases that, contrary to investigators’ allegations, the liquor store was not a hub of underage liquor sales. He said store employees should not be criminally charged for selling alcohol to minors after they examined identification in good faith.

Investigators said the driver in the crash, James Virgil Patterson, used bogus identification on July 28, 1995, to buy the beer for an overnight camping trip with friends.

Early the next morning, Patterson crashed his Chevy Suburban while driving with a 0.17% blood-alcohol level--more than twice the legal limit. Four teenagers died and three were seriously injured.

Patterson, 17 at the time of the accident, pleaded guilty in March to vehicular manslaughter and felony drunk driving. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail and 120 days in an alcohol rehabilitation program. Some of the beer he drank, however, came from his parents’ refrigerator.

Intense scrutiny was focused on Zaman’s business practices. In March, he was ordered to relinquish control of his liquor store after state investigators found that his business catered to underage drinkers and had a reputation among Katella High students as an easy place to buy alcohol.

The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control gave Zaman six months to transfer his liquor license to a person who meets department approval and is not a relative. The agency also barred him from selling liquor for 30 days.

ABC investigators said three teens involved in the crash had bought alcohol from Me-N-Paul’s market.

One of Zaman’s attorneys, Stephen W. Solomon, said in August that his client had negotiated the sale of his business and license and planned to return to college. Solomon also said Zaman could not recall the youths.