Problems Mount for The Beach House Tavern as Police Chief Calls for Review

The Beach House Tavern could face penalties or revocation of its liquor license after Police Chief Thomas F. Lee called for a review after a string of incidents in May and June of this year.

In a letter to the Board of License Commissioners, the chief highlighted three incidents involving staff either drinking while on duty, driving drunk after work or drinking with patrons at the bar long past closing time.

On May 15, Lee said, police were conducting a compliance check of town liquor establishments for the illegal sale of alcohol to minors and while at the Beach House Tavern, they saw a bartender identified as Melanie Brandzen drink two shots of alcohol and then finish off a customer's beer.

The next day, police saw lights on inside the building at 1:58 a.m. After three knocks on the door, Brandzen reportedly answered the door and appeared drunk. Police said she was inside the bar with three patrons and told police she thought they were allowed to stay until 1:30 a.m.

On June 2, police responded to a crash near Park Avenue and Boyd's Lane and arrested Kayla Carreira at 1:22 a.m. for driving drunk after she reportedly told police she had drank before leaving her job as a bartender at the Beach House Tavern.

Carreira reportedly crashed and her car came to a rest on top of a "keep right" sign.

In his letter, Lee requested the Town Council address the incidents at their June 23 meeting.

Those incidents aren't the only issues facing the Beach House. Its owner, Kenneth J. O'Brien, is awaiting sentencing for tax evasion charges to which he pleaded no contest in May for keeping two sets of books and bilking the Internal Revenue Service of nearly $1 million in taxes.

And earlier this month, O'Brien was charged with domestic simple assault for allegedly dragging a woman down a flight of stairs and punching her.