State Agency Revokes Store’s Liquor License

State Alcohol Beverage Control officials on Thursday revoked a liquor license held by Warner Liquor for repeated sales to minors.

The move by the state agency follows a City Council decision last month to shut the store at 9555 Warner Ave.

Although the council forced the store out of business, the ABC ruling prohibits Warner Liquor from selling or transferring its permit, said Fountain Valley Councilman John Collins.

Under the ABC ruling, the city also cannot issue a liquor license at that location for one year. Collins said he would consider another liquor store for the site only if a qualified applicant came before the council.

Reports by the Fountain Valley Police Department and the ABC show at least nine separate sales to minors at the store, with two sales allegedly to the same 14-year-old boy.

Store owner Mohssen “Sammy” Mankruoss was fined $1,820 in 1995 for selling to a minor, five months after he obtained his alcohol permit. He could not be reached for comment.

Warner Liquor in Fountain Valley is not affiliated with a store of the same name in Huntington Beach.

Under the state’s three strikes law, any licensee who sells alcohol to minors three times in a three-year period faces mandatory revocation of its permit.

At least six other California licensees who have third strikes against them are appealing revocation decisions, ABC officials said. Another 239 licensees have two strikes for sales to minors.