Owner of downtown coffee shop accused of selling drugs
Posted: January 10, 2008, 11:16 PM by Barry Hertz
Crime
The owner of a Coffee Time at one of Toronto’s seediest corners has been selling customers more than coffee and donuts, Toronto police say.
The Post's Kelly Grant reports:
The shop on Queen Street East and Sherbourne Avenue — which locals call “Crack Time†— is an alleged den of illicit activities.
In less than an hour of watching the location on Wednesday night, detectives allegedly caught the store’s 46-year-old owner selling pot to a patron and buying cheese and halal meats from a customer who had stolen the food from a store in Thorncliffe Park.
“I have a file as tall as myself on this site,†said Councillor Pam McConnell, whose ward includes the Coffee Time. “It’s had a long history of being a place where people knew they could go in and buy more than a cup of coffee.â€
Police arrested the Coffee Time’s owner, Paul Karathanasis, around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
He is charged with trafficking marijuana, possessing marijuana and cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possessing the proceeds of crime and possessing stolen property.
A search of the shop turned up 219 grams of marijuana divided into 192 dime bags, a dozen of which were in a margarine tub behind the counter.
The rest were stocked in the shop’s basement, said Detective John Margetson of 51 Division.
Police also seized 3.22 grams of crack cocaine, two garbage bags full of illegal cigarettes and $25,000 in cash. The crack was allegedly found on Mr. Karathanasis.
Det. Margetson said Coffee Times are often magnets for drug dealing because they keep long hours and tend to be located in down-at-heel pockets of the city.
But the dealing usually takes place among customers in the store, not behind the counter, he said. “This is the only time we’ve ever had an owner or employee actually involved in the trafficking.â€
The Queen and Sherbourne Coffee Time was open yesterday morning. A handful of people smoked out front, including June Clements, 65. A regular at the shop, she said it was common knowledge that the owner sold cigarettes at his counter, but she was surprised to hear police had seized pot and hard drugs from the store.
“I knew he was selling cigarettes, not drugs,†Ms. Clements said.
Trafficking at the Coffee Time became so bad three years ago that the city tried to revoke the previous owner’s business licence, she said. That owner sold the franchise to Mr. Karathanasis.
“A fresh face came in and told us they’d turn the page. It takes you at least the first chapter to realize, no, it’s the same old book,†Ms. McConnell said.
A call to Coffee Time’s corporate office went unreturned.