LYNN — The Board of Health voted to permanently revoke Dyckmn Convenience owner Edwal Vargas’ tobacco license Tuesday night after the 132 Munroe St. store was alleged to have operated as a drug front.
Last month Lynn Police, Massachusetts State Police, and the Drug Enforcement Administration raided the store and recovered roughly 358 grams of cocaine, 230 grams of pressed fentanyl pills, a pound of marijuana, and close to $6,000 in cash. They also found a 9mm Ruger pistol loaded with five rounds.
Public Health Director Michele Desmarais said that prior to the raid, Vargas had been cited for violating the state’s tobacco sale laws numerous times.
In July 2022, the store sold a product containing more nicotine than is legally allowed to minor. Desmarais said following the sale, store employees refused to allow inspectors access to the business to conduct a routine inspection.
When Dyckmn Convenience was later inspected, multiple “prohibited items” were found in the business, according to a written notice of license suspension addressed to Vargas.
Dykmn, Inc. was cited with two additional violations, resulting in a 30-day tobacco license suspension and Vargas paying a $7,035 fine to the Board of Health.
Desmarais said the board allowed Vargas to continue operating his business despite the violations and his failure to appear for a license suspension hearing on Nov. 1. She held a clipping of The Item’s March 14 article “Police find alleged drug front at Lynn convenience store” before the board.
“Against my advice, we allowed him to continue, and he recently — I think you all have this [article] in your packet, you know what he did,” Desmarais said.
Lynn Police Lt. Michael Kmiec said that police and federal agents began investigating the store nearly two months prior to the search.
“This just displays the work that the drug task force does,” Kmiec said. “Sometimes the investigation takes a while, but that store was a front for a drug business, and we’re glad that they’re shut down right now.”
In 2018, Vargas was charged with trafficking cocaine after state police found more than 160 grams of cocaine in his car.
After the board unanimously voted to permanently revoke Vargas’ license, Health Board Chairman Ron Dupuis said, jokingly, that the business owner’s ability to stay open might have been a blessing in disguise.
“Just think, if he didn’t continue, they never would have caught him for all this,” Dupuis said. “He wouldn’t be in jail right now.”
