Pub Owner: ‘I’m A Little Bit Shocked About the Cocaine’

The owner of an Oak Lawn tavern recently cited for liquor license violations asked the village for more time to refine a security plan to prevent such violations from happening again.

Robert Olson, who owns TC’s Pub at 9700 S. Cicero Ave., appeared Monday before the village liquor license commission, presided over by Mayor Sandra Bury. Olson was being called to the carpet on allegations that the bar was serving alcohol past its 2 a.m. closing time and that cocaine was discovered on the premises.

Daniel J. Brueck, 36, of Oak Lawn, referred to in police reports as an “owner” of the bar, was charged with three felony counts for possession of a controlled substance during a premises check at 3:38 a.m. Dec. 13.

According to an Oak Lawn Police report, officers peered through the tavern’s front windows and saw a woman sitting at the bar drinking a beer past the bar’s licensed 2 a.m. closing time.

Oak Lawn Police found five people on the premises, including Brueck and a patron that was the father of a bartender. As officers walked through the bar, they found cocaine on a desk in a back office, reports said.

Police said that Brueck and others inside the bar denied owning the cocaine. Brueck was taken into custody and later cited for violating the conditions of the liquor license. Brueck was also found in possession of four loose hydrocodone pills, a narcotic pain reliever, in his shirt pocket, reports said.

The others were released on the scene without being charged.

“We still don’t know who was responsible,” Olson said after the hearing was continued. “I was a little bit shocked when I found out about the cocaine because I wasn’t apprised to that situation.”

Olson said that Brueck was the general contractor in charge of the bar’s recent remodeling.

“[Brueck] was the one overseeing the contractors,” Olson said. “He designed the construction and rehabbed the space.”

Olson said that Brueck was brought in as a promoter in an attempt to attract a younger crowd because the bar had been losing money.

“He had permission to say he was the ‘owner,’” Olson said. “I wanted someone younger to get younger people to come in.”

The bar owner says he has been putting together a security plan, including an alarm system that precludes employees from staying past 3 a.m. Employees would also be prohibited from drinking alcohol during cleanup chores after the bar closes at 2 a.m.

He said he planned to ask Oak Lawn Police if they would accept calls from the bar’s alarm company, should alarms and motion sensors not be properly set by 3 a.m.  

“Previously if the alarms weren’t set, I didn’t know,” Olson said.

Olson has owned TC’s Pub for 15 years after he acquired the the bar from his father. He said he never had problems during that time until recently.

This past year -- Jan. 1 through Dec. 16, 2013 - police answer 52 calls for service involving TC's Pub, according to information provided by the Oak Lawn Police.

The 911 calls ranged from noise complaints and disturbances, fighting, theft, intoxicated or unwanted patrons, accidents on the property, domestic batter and criminal sexual assault/abuse.

Since Dec. 13, the time of the alleged violations, police have visited the tavern three more times, for disturbance calls and a suspicious vehicle.

“I’m totally embarrassed,” Olson said. “It was my father’s bar and he’d roll over in his grave if he saw what was going on.”

The mayor can choose to revoke or suspend the bar's village liquor license up to 30 days, or fine the bar owner. Fines range from $500 to $1,000 per violation.

The owner has up to 20 days to appeal the village’s ruling with the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. If the owner does not file an appeal, the village’s ruling stands.

The hearing for TC's Pub has been continued to 11 a.m. Jan. 6, at Oak Lawn Village Hall, 9446 S. Raymond Ave.