A Fredonia business may lose its ability to sell lottery and tobacco products due to selling tobacco to minors.

During the Chautauqua County Board of Health meeting, it was announced that Aayush Kumar Patel with Fredonia Food Mart & Deli at 33 Temple St., was charged and pleaded guilty to violation of the state’s Adolescent Tobacco Use Prevention Act. He paid a $1,000 fine and $250 surcharge.

This is the second time in two years the business has been cited for this violation.

Environmental Health Director Jessica Wuerstle said the county Health Department sends in underage individuals to purchase tobacco products all over the county. If they are sold tobacco, the business is cited.

Wuerstle said this latest violation took place in February. The business was previously cited in January 2023.

“Since this is a second violation, we send proof of the first violation and proof of the second violation to the state. The state then sends it to New York State Tax and Finance and they look at possibly, potentially pulling the licenses for this facility to sell tobacco products at all and lottery tickets,” Wuerstle said.

After the meeting, Wuerstle said she couldn’t say if it is a guarantee that the business will lose its licenses and could not offer a timeline as to when a decision would be made, noting that it’s something that is in the state’s hands.

In other business there were eight businesses cited for violations of the state Public Water Supply. Most of those were due to not filing reports on time. Those cited were Roger Vaillantcourt with Sunshine Village Mobile Home Park in Bemus Point, Tim Lerow with Bubba’s Food Wagon in Sinclairville, Doug Gerzina with Shady Acres Mobile Home Park in Mayville, Mark Ehrenberg with Shore Acres in Bemus Point, Jerry Tanner with Dollar General in Cassadaga, Timothy Switaj with Sweeteye Estates in Jamestown, and Kris Kane with Olde Chautauqua Vineyards in Portland. Settlements with each were made and all fines were paid.