Vermont: Vt. looks to crack down on modern-day bootleggers

Source: WCAX 3

By Jennifer Costa

January 3, 2018

Vermont smashed liquor sale records in December, raking in $9.3 million, and $80 million in spirit sales for all of 2017. It’s good news for the general fund which gets all proceeds from state liquor sales, but as our Jennifer Costa found out, there’s a new, growing concern coming from the top at Liquor Control.

When you hear “bootlegging” you may picture booze smugglers of a bygone era hiding liquor in their boots.

“While the term might be dated, the concept is still alive and well,” said Patrick Delaney, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Liquor Control.

This is what modern-day bootlegging looks like– SUVs packed with cases of illegal booze. Eighty-eight were found in one traffic stop. Delaney wants stiffer penalties for smugglers behind the wheel.

“We don’t want to be considered the back road or the byway,” Delaney said.

Delaney, a former wine broker from Utah, says he was brought in to run this department like a business.

Title VII is Vermont’s collection of laws on alcohol and tobacco products, legislation largely untouched since the end of Prohibition in 1933. Delaney says before lawmakers finally modernized the language and made it law last year, it was a really an outdated collection of Band-Aids.

“Once you have put those number of Band-Aids on a Title of that size, it becomes confusing, it’s user-unfriendly, it’s difficult to interpret,” Delaney said.

Now, the Legislature has asked him to weigh in on penalty changes. He told lawmakers most fines were too weak by today’s standards to deter crime.

“If you are looking at an illegal importation operation in the state of Vermont and the fine in engaging in that activity is $1,000, that really is not a deterrent that could be characterized as a cost of doing business,” Delaney said.

He tells us heftier penalties might make crooks think twice before buying tax-free booze in New Hampshire and trafficking it through Vermont to sell in a high-tax state like New York.

But what would that mean for you? Vermont law allows you to legally import 9 liters of distilled spirits at a time, which is the same as a case of 750 ml bottles. But the commissioner says the proposed stiffer penalties are not really aimed at busting Vermont consumers.

“We’re really interested in for-profit businesses that are attempting to circumvent our laws and engage in tax evasion for their personal benefit,” Delaney explained.

Delaney points to an uptick in organized bootleggers using Vermont– three cases in six months. In those, DLC confiscated more than $80,000 in New Hampshire liquor bound for Chinese restaurants in New York City. That’s illegal.

Reporter Jennifer Costa: How many times do you think people are not getting caught smuggling through Vermont? How much smuggling is happening through Vermont?

Patrick Delaney: You know, that would really be very difficult to say.

He can tell us smuggling activity spikes three to four times a year when New Hampshire has deep liquor sales or rebate incentives.

Vermont DLC wrote 458 citations for beverage alcohol violations last year and brought in $67,000 in fines.