Pair of employees at Albany candy store caught selling illegal tobacco products and vapes handed fines

Two employees of an Albany candy store that was busted selling illegal tobacco products and vapes have been handed fines, but both denied knowing the owner of the store they were working in. Darleen Natasha Saunders and Kee’s Isaac Wiremu Johnny Andrews both appeared in Albany Magistrates Court on Thursday for first hearings on identical charges. Both workers pleaded guilty to selling a tobacco product by way of retail sale, without the authority of a retailer’s licence, and unlawfully possessing a controlled or prescription drug. Prosecutor Sgt Dylan Fisher told the court all charges stemmed from January 12, when Albany detectives attended the Albany Candy Store on Middleton Loop after receiving information it was selling illegal tobacco products. He said they spoke to both employees, who they understood were being paid $250 cash per day to sell tobacco products. In the store, detectives uncovered 22,826 illegal tobacco products and 89 vapes. Both Saunders and Andrews said they had only been working in the store for a short period of time, and both said they had never actually been paid for their time. They both maintained they got their jobs through friends and had no idea who the owner of the store was. Defence lawyer Eva Svanberg indicated her client Saunders did not fully understand the extent of the illegal activities going on in the store when she took the job. Ms Svanberg said Saunders had become very anxious about her involvement with the store as more reports of raids and the violence of the tobacco wars in Perth surfaced. Saunders also said a woman involved at the store had attempted to get her son to join her “little crew”, and she wanted nothing more to do with the store after she was sentenced. Lucy Bourne spoke for Andrews and made similar submissions, saying her client understood how stores such as the one he was working in could be cause for concern in the community. Sgt Fisher referred to the “current climate” of illegal tobacco sales in WA and how seriously and often they were being dealt with by police, but he also acknowledged the court was only dealing with employees, who seemed to be low down on the chain of illegal activity, rather than the people responsible for setting the shop up. He noted vapes were of particular concern because they could easily end up in the hands of teenagers or young people who were oblivious to the harmful effects of vaping. Magistrate Rosemarie Myers said it should have been clear to both employees what they and the store were doing was wrong, even if they were only employed there for a short period of time. She said the lure of an “easy” $250 a day may have looked like a great opportunity at the time, but if an employment opportunity looked too good to be true, it often was. Saunders and Andrews were fined $1000 each and were both granted a spent conviction.