Woman Arrested In Fireworks Sale

The illegal fireworks here were not TNT's but this was one of their sellers. An interesting issue that has not been closely looked at in California I am sure. Legal fireworks sellers using booths to sell illegal fireworks. Perfect.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20070705/NEWS/707050460/1004

Published Thursday, July 5, 2007
Woman Arrested In Fireworks Sale
Officials say she was warned before worker sold illegal product to officer.

By Gabrielle Finley
The Ledger

LAKELAND - A 27-year-old Oregon woman was arrested Wednesday in Lakeland after a sheriff's deputy found illegal fireworks at a stand in North Lakeland, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

Shauna Ranee Powell of Newberg, Ore., was given a warning Tuesday when sheriff's Detective Gordon Opitz spotted the illegal fireworks and told her to get rid of them, a sheriff's report said.

But, according to the report, she didn't heed his advice.

On Wednesday, a 17-year-old boy who was working for her sold the plainclothes officer illegal fireworks, the report said.

Powell was charged with two counts of selling illegal fireworks and one count each of conspiracy to sell illegal fireworks and solicitation to sell illegal fireworks, all misdemeanor charges, the report said.

She was also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, also a misdemeanor, the report said.

Powell told the deputy she owns all six of the TNT Fireworks stands in Polk County, the report said.

At the stand in Lakeland, Opitz saw mortar shells that leave the ground and explode, the report said.

The 17-year-old worker told the deputy that Powell told him to only sell the illegal fireworks to "African Americans or Mexicans because white people could be cops," the report said.

The boy also told the deputy that on Wednesday, Powell told him to put the illegal fireworks under the table so they weren't visible to law enforcement officers, the report said.

Gabrielle Finley can be reached at 802-7590 or gabrielle.finley@theledger.com.