Retailer Sentenced in Drunk Driving Case
A liquor store owner convicted of selling beer to a group of Anaheim teenagers later involved in a fatal desert crash was sentenced Tuesday to a maximum sentence of six months in County Jail.
Masood M. Zaman was found guilty last month of selling 12-packs of beer to the group of Katella High School students, four of whom died in the July 28, 1995, crash near Victorville.
Anaheim Assistant City Atty. Pat Ahle said he hoped the sentence by Municipal Judge Gregg L. Prickett might help save lives in the future.
“Hopefully, it will send a message to the community, for those people who sell alcohol, that there’s more at stake than money,” Ahle said.
Zaman denied wrongdoing during the trial, saying the youths used bogus identification to buy the beer for an overnight camping trip. His attorneys said store owners should not be charged for selling alcohol to minors if they examined identification in good faith.
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