Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SANDY — A Sandy man is accused of running a bar out of his garage, welcoming in patrons far away from neighborhood boundaries.
Jared Keith Williams, 33, has been charged by city prosecutors with doing business without a license, a class-B misdemeanor.
"You have to get a license, it has to be zoned properly - there are problems with having a bar in a residential area," Sandy Police Sgt. Jon Arnold said Tuesday.
Police said discovered the bar after a tip and an undercover buy, where an officer purchased alcohol at the neighborhood bar.
Detectives said they later seized dozens of bottles of liquor and beer, a jagermeister shot machine, plastic cups and hundreds of dollars in cash.
"Having people driving in neighborhoods with children and families is not the place to have a bar," Arnold said.
Williams had pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge and is due in court Aug. 29 for a pretrial conference.
Some neighbors who declined to go on camera with KSL over what they described as "fears of retribution" said the "biker" bar had become a long-term "problem" in the neighborhood and they were concerned about its proximity to children on the street.
Two children in the neighborhood told KSL they were aware of a "bar" at the home.
Having people driving in neighborhoods with children and families is not the place to have a bar.
–Jon Arnold
Still, other neighbors seemed taken back by the revelation.
"As far as I know it was just a place where people gathered," John Ragsdale said.
Ragsdale and another nearby neighbor said the family was "very friendly" and "kept to themselves," and though they were aware of people coming over to the house for friendly drinking, they said the family was careful not to allow children close to it.
"They've been good neighbors, more or less, but what they're doing privately is another story," Ragsdale said.
Arnold said public safety concerns led police to move forward with their investigation.
"Once you start bringing strangers into the area and people who you don't know or are familiar with, you're not going to invite them in if they've had too much, and so that's one of the problems that goes along with these types of situations," Arnold said.
KSL's attempts to gain a response from someone inside the home Tuesday were unsuccessful.
