City takes aim at local business with lawsuit
By William Lundquist
Argus Observer
Tuesday, December 4, 2007 10:57 AM PST
Ontario — A civil complaint against Victoria Miller, owner of Old School, a drug paraphernalia shop in downtown Ontario, was scheduled to be filed today by the City of Ontario in Malheur County Circuit Court. The filing of the complaint was unanimously approved Monday night by the City Council after it emerged from an executive session.
The complaint asserts that through the Old School business at 281 S. Oregon St., Miller sold, delivered, and possessed with intent to sell numerous products constituting drug paraphernalia as defined by Oregon law. The compliant asserts Miller knew at least some of the paraphernalia would be used to unlawfully plant, grow, harvest, produce, conceal and ingest controlled substances.
The complaint asks for a civil penalty of $10,000 and that Miller no longer sell, deliver or possess any drug paraphernalia. The complaint also asks that Miller pay the city’s attorney fees in the case.
The city’s main attorneys in the case are Malheur County District Attorney Dan Norris and Ontario City Attorney Larry Sullivan.
The complaint said the city’s trial attorneys would include Sullivan and Lung Hung.
Interim City Manager and Ontario Police Chief Mike Kee said the complaint was not without precedent in Oregon. He said a similar case was successfully filed in a town in southern Oregon.
In a press release Tuesday morning, Kee said selling drug paraphernalia is a violation of an Oregon Revised Statute, but that violation does not allow the city to file criminal charges. It does, Kee said, allow the city to file a civil suit to make the illegal acts cease. Kee said his department has been investigating the business all year and had requested the help of Norris and Sullivan in stopping Miller from selling drug paraphernalia within the city.
The investigation will continue, Kee said, and his department will soon begin serving orders requesting all records showing the inventory of Old School for 2007 and the gross sales volume for 2005 to 2007, including Miller’s income tax returns for 2005 and 2006. The department will also request all documents showing customer names, including checks and credit card payments for 2007 and employees’ names, addresses and phone numbers for 2007.
