Charlton Board of Health Fines Food Mart $5,000, Suspends Tobacco Sales 21 Days

CHARLTON — July 22, 2025 — Charlton Board of Health hits Charlton Food Mart with a mandatory $5,000 fine and a 21-day tobacco sales suspension. Board Chair Matt Gagner and member John Sanborn voted 2-0 at the July 22 meeting to find store owner Sonny Patel responsible for a third tobacco violation within a 36-month period, stemming from a June 20 inspection in which coalition inspector Jody Brighetti found banned flavored Newport cigarettes, Game Blue flavored cigars, and hemp wraps on the premises. Joan Hamlet, director of the Leominster Tobacco Control Coalition and the town's tobacco control agent, joined by phone and confirmed the $5,000 fine is non-negotiable under state law but that the board could set the suspension between 15 and 30 days. Health Director Jim Philbrook argued for the full 30 days, telling the board he had personally witnessed what he described as a fourth violation — a sale of banned product from Patel's vehicle — after the June 20 incident. The board compromised at 21 days, with the remaining nine days continued without a finding; the suspension begins August 1. Patel's three violations, the earliest dated January 18, 2025, remain on his record until January 2028, and a fourth would carry another mandatory $5,000 fine plus a possible license revocation proceeding.