Cameras from NBC4 caught delivery truck drivers for Montgomery County’s Department of Liquor Control drinking on the job over at least three different days.
The footage came from an investigative report the station was doing on accusations that a few DLC delivery crews were skimming inventory in order to sell beer cases under the table for half price.
Unlike nearly every other “control” jurisdiction, Montgomery County purchases its alcohol inventory from manufacturers, stores it in DLC’s Gaithersburg warehouse and then resells the products via direct delivery to all beer and wine retail stores and restaurants in the county.
NBC4 investigative reporters said they took six months to follow certain DLC truck crews and review records of reported shorts on DLC delivery routes. When a short happens, a DLC employee fills out a credit form that provides that store or restaurant with the alcohol it didn’t get.
But NBC4 said it heard from anonymous sources with knowledge of how the department works that some delivery crews had so consistently reported shorts that they must be skimming from the inventory.
It also followed one crew and found one member of that crew coming out of a county-owned liquor store with a bottle in a brown bag. On another day, a reporter watched the crew member throw a bag of bottles away. Upon diving in the trash to find it, the reporter found two empty wine bottles.
DLC Director George Griffin said the department pulled the two delivery men off the road. Others are apparently under review for skimming cases of beer.
Councilmember Hans Riemer, who has been a critic of the county’s role as a liquor and beer wholesaler, told NBC4 the footage shows there should be fundamental changes to the county’s model and that the county should “get out of the liquor wholesale business.”
Video via NBC4
