Pizza and a Beer, Hold the Beer

Joshua Braun, former owner of the HortiPharm medical marijuana dispensary, believes that had he gone to trial he would have beaten the 43 marijuana and money-laundering crimes he was charged with after his shop was raided in June of 2010. Among his reasons for agreeing to a plea deal, though, were to free up his wife, Dayli – who was also charged with money laundering – to run Pizza Guru, her popular upper State Street eatery.

In exchange for pleading guilty to one felony count of marijuana sales and one misdemeanor charge of money laundering, all of the charges against Dayli (and many of those against Joshua’s 11 employees) were dropped. That decision, however, has come back to haunt him as Alcohol and Beverage Control (ABC) is threatening to take away Pizza Guru’s beer and wine license due to a rule forbidding a license for a business-owner whose spouse has ever been found guilty of a felony.

According to Braun, on December 5, he and Dayli met with ABC District Administrator Leslie Pond who notified the couple that, without a change of ownership, their beer and wine license will be revoked. They must now decide by December 15 whether they will appeal the decision, go dry, or sell their restaurant. Pond told The Independent that Pizza Guru still has an operating beer and wine license and that he could not say any more publicly about the business. Should they decide to sell, said Braun, they would have 180 days to find a buyer during which time they could sell beer and wine.