Van Thien Pham, 47, was in court today to be sentenced in two cases for selling liquor to under-aged teens. 

Pham was arrested in Lakewood on April 14, 2010, during a liquor store compliance operation after he sold beer to a 19-year-old police explorer scout without asking for ID. Pham was on probation at the time, for the same charge in a March 2007 case, with a condition of his probation being that he not work in a liquor store. Pham’s probation was revoked and he was also re-sentenced in that case today.

Jefferson County District Judge Lily Oeffler sentenced Van Pham to the maximum jail sentence, 18 months, for the April 2010 offense. She then sentenced Pham to 24 months straight jail time for violation of probation in the March 2007 case. The two sentences, 18 months and 24 months, are to be served consecutively for a total of 3 ½ years. Judge Oeffler also imposed a $1,000 fine and refused to authorize work release for Pham.

The March 2007 incident turned deadly. Pham was working at Alameda Square Liquors, which was owned by his wife, on March 13, 2007, when he sold apple vodka to a 15-year-old teen without asking for identification. The boy
and his friends drank the alcohol and later caused a two-car collision that claimed the life of 17-year-old Samara Stricklen and injured 20-year-old Seth Mutschler.

Six people were charged following the collision near the intersection of West Alameda and Florida in Lakewood. The driver of the car was 17-year-old Nanette LaFleur. She was given a four-year sentence to the Youthful Offender System (YOS) with a suspended 12-year prison sentence.

Pham was indicted by the District Attorney’s Office in June 2007 on ten counts of Unlawfully Providing Alcohol to a Minor. During the course of the grand jury investigation, prosecutors learned that March 13, 2007, was not the only time Pham had sold liquor to minors, and that he previously sold liquor to the same teen that made the purchase on the night of the collision on Green Mountain.