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The state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Controlhas notified Scarlet Pub in New Brunswick that it is seeking to revoke its license in connection with a July 2011 raid that resulted in the arrest of 26 people.
Charges are also pending against Cryan’s Beef and Ale House in South Orange following the arrest of six underage patrons and two staff members during a sweep by the ABC in October.
“Underage drinking is a public safety issue, and it is vital that we send a clear message to license holders and those who are underage that it will not be tolerated,” Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said. “It’s important to protect the young people of New Jersey with enforcement actions like these, which deter licensees from selling to those under 21.”
Those arrested at the Scarlet Pub last year ranged in age from 17 to 20, Chiesa said.
Two bartenders and a bouncer were taken into custody, as well as 22 patrons were charged with underage drinking. Four of them showed fake ID cards, Chiesa said.
After telling the owners it was moving to revoke their license, the ABC went back and found an underaged patron along with a bartender busted in the first raid, he said.
An anonymous tip also led to similar arrests at Cryan’s Beef and Ale House, less than a mile from the Seton Hall University campus.
Investigators were watching the place in October when a 20-year-old New York man and an 18-year-old Toms River woman stumbled out — with the woman nearly falling into the path of an oncoming car, authorities said.
She passed out during questioning and had to be taken to a local hospital, they said.
The investigators arrested five other underaged patrons at Cryan’s that night, as well as a 20-year-old busboy who’d been drinking during his shift.
To top it off, video provided by management showed a table set up inside the entrance for a two-hour, $20-a-person all-you-can-drink event — which are prohibited in New Jersey.
“Licensees face serious consequences when they choose to serve alcohol to underage drinkers,” said Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control Director Michael Halfacre. “The most serious punishment the ABC can level is revocation, and we reserve that consequence for the most extreme violators.”
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