Transient Man Arrested After Re-Opening Bar and Selling Drinks

A California man has been arrested for a fairly unique crime; breaking into a closed bar, re-opening it, and serving drinks for days. Travis Kevie, 29, is a transient in Auburn, California who spotted the shuttered Valancia Club and decided to go into the bar business. The thing that proved his undoing was the media.

Kevie started small. He bought a six pack of beer and sold it at the bar. He then used those profits to buy more booze and was soon serving 30 customers. That led to a newspaper story about the re-opening of the historic Valencia Club under its new owner, Kevie. One of the readers was a detective who not only knew the club’s alcohol license was suspended by knew Kevie.

He is still working the bars but at the Placer County Jail where he is facing charges of burglary and selling alcohol without a license. Presumed drink of choice: Alabama Slammer, of course.

Source: CBS and Auburn Journal.