St. Augustine Record: Police shut down M & M Market on Bridge Street

Police shut down M & M Market on Bridge Street
Posted: November 4, 2010 - 8:03am
From Staff

After an eight-month investigation, the St Augustine Police Department has executed a search warrant at The M&M Market, 102 Bridge St., seizing all assets and closing the business.

Arrest warrants have been signed for all three owners: Bhanubhai Patel, 61; Daxaben Bhanubhai Patel, 55; and Raj Patel, 20.

These actions are the result of a combined effort among four law enforcement agencies: the St Augustine Police Department, the St Johns County Sheriff’s Office, the State Attorney's Office and the Florida Department of Revenue. The agencies used undercover officers, confidential informants, surveillance and a subpoena of financial records to shut down the business.

During the past 24 months, the SAPD has answered 608 calls at the M & M Market for various citizens complaints. Those complaints led to the investigation which revealed the Patels' criminal activies, a news release from the SAPD says. Activities named in the release include possession and sale of illegal narcotics, racketeering, money laundering and public assistance fraud.

The Patels have owned M & M Market since April of 1997 and reported total sales of $178,213.12 to the DOR for the first 6 months of this year. However, the investigation turned up documents suggesting they took in far more than what they reported, the SAPD said in the release.

The agencies worked together under Florida’s RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization). That act prohibits the acquisition or maintenance of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity or the collection on an unlawful debt. RICO allowed the agencies to seize the Patels' assets, valued at more than $200,000, the release said.