Monday, November 15, 2010

Up aganst the wall, you criminal!

They hoped for sweet success and instead got a bitter brush with the law.

A bake sale hosted by two 13-year-old Westchester County boys was the icing on the cake for a fed up local politician incensed that the teens were peddling their sweets without a license.

Middle school students Andrew DeMarchis and Kevin Graff set up shop in a local park last month, selling cupcakes, cookies, brownies and Rice Krispie treats for $1 apiece, The Journal News reported.

When local Councilman Michael Wolfensohn spotted the pop-up stall, he called police and filed a complaint against the boys for operating a business without a license.

"All vendors selling on town property have to have a license, whether it's boys selling baked goods or a hot dog vendor," Wolfensohn told The Journal News.

The newspaper learned that Wolfensohn had filed the complaint last week after receiving the police report through a New York State Freedom of Information Law request.

The boys’ parents expressed outrage over the councilman’s handling of the situation.

"Kevin was so upset, he was crying all the whole way home. He was worried if he was going to get arrested or have a criminal record," said Andrew’s mother, Suzanne DeMarchis, who was called to the scene.


"These are good kids who haven't once gone to the principal's office," said Kevin’s mother, Laura Graff. "This was a very scary experience for them."

Kevin and Andrew started the bake stand with school pals Zachary Bass and Daniel Katz, who were not present when an apologetic police officer showed up to shut them down.

The boys hoped to sell the sweet treats for a few years, save up and then open a restaurant. They got off to a lucrative start, pocketing $120 on their first day of sales. They used half the bounty to buy a cart from Target and added a beverage list (water and Gatorade) to their menu.

After they’d been selling their sweet treats for about an hour on Oct. 9, a police officer showed up and said the boys would have to close because of a complaint.

In hindsight, Wolfensohn said perhaps he could have talked to the boys himself instead of calling in law enforcement, but at the time felt officers should handle the complaint.

"The police are trained to deal with these sorts of issues," he said.

As for the business-minded youths, for now their entrepreneurial dreams have been crushed.

"I don't get too many offers for baby-sitting, and we live in a development, so shoveling snow is not an option either," said Andrew. "We were being entrepreneurs, but now I feel a little defeated."



Meanwhile politicians are committing real crime in Washington

1 comment:

  1. Meanwhile other real crimes are being committed and no one cares. Only in America.

    ReplyDelete