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Candy crushed.
The owner of Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store found himself in a sticky situation after he was charged with selling booze-filled candy without a liquor license.
Robert Wagner, 66, was hit with a gross misdemeanor charge of selling liquor without a license or permit at his shop in Jordan — roughly 42 miles from St. Paul — according to a criminal complaint filed Oct. 27 and obtained by MPR News.
After an anonymous tip, agents with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division went undercover at the store in July, where they found liquor-filled candy for sale despite the business not having a license to sell alcohol.
Among the treats an agent bought during the operation were chocolate-covered brandy cherries with a 7.3% brandy concentration and chocolates with a whiskey syrup center that measured 3.58% alcohol by volume, the outlet reported.
The store is also accused of selling “some to a minor child without checking the minor’s ID,” the complaint states.
There was no special procedure for buying the alcohol-filled treats, and customers could buy them the same way as any other candy, according to the complaint.
Wagner allegedly acknowledged the store lacked a liquor license — though he said he believed the shop could still legally sell the liquor-filled candy it had in stock.
The 66-year-old said his aim is “to have every conceivable candy, even if it doesn’t represent much in sales,” insisting that stocking the spiked treats was never meant as a way to illegally sell alcohol.
“We have suckers that have scorpions in them. We don’t sell a lot of them, but we got it,” Wagner told Fox 9 on Tuesday outside his shop.
“The candies that have the spirits inside of them. We want those as well.”
Wagner said his reading of the law allowed him to stock the candy, which he’s carried for so long he doesn’t know how many years it’s been on the shelves.
He said the tip came from a customer who never raised the issue with him, though he acknowledged that state agents made a purchase at the store that authorities allege was illegal.
“At that point in time, they could have stopped and talked to me and said, ‘Hey Robert, we don’t think you can sell this candy.’ And I’d say, ‘Well, I think I can. Here’s my documentation,’” he told the outlet.
“And then we’d have a conversation. And if they convinced me, well then, I’d say, ‘I’ll take it off the shelf, no big deal.’”
Wagner maintains he wasn’t hiding anything — or trying to break the law.
“If I thought for a moment that I couldn’t legally have this candy, I wouldn’t have this. If I thought that I was going to be breaking the law, I wouldn’t put it on a shelf for 650,000 customers to walk by and view,” he said.
“If I’m going to sell fentanyl, I’m not going to put it on the front porch with a sign that says fentanyl. I’m gonna put it in the basement.”
Despite the charges, Wagner is still finding humor in the situation, putting up a sign out front dubbing his shop “Minnesota’s Most Wanted Candy Store,” Fox 9 reported.
He is due in court Dec. 18 for his first appearance.
If found guilty, Wagner could face up to 364 days behind bars and a fine of up to $3,000.
Famous for its bright-yellow barn and seemingly endless array of sweets, Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store is known as a roadside attraction that started as a family-run apple stand in 1979, according to MPR News.
