Popular cashiers dismissed after allegedly selling alcohol to underage Pepperdine students.
By JJ Bowman
News Editor
It happens all the time.
Underage Pepperdine students venture to Ralphs with their fake ID’s and purchase beer or hard liquor. Although the means by which one can procure false identification are well known to many Pepperdine students, few understand the ramifications of tricking those who sell alcohol.
That was, however, until two of Ralphs most recognizable employees, Harry McDermott and Nancy Cicatelli, lost their jobs for selling booze to two underage Pepperdine students who were with another who was over 21.
One of the students, Jonathan Rivas, declined to comment on the matter. Rivas faces charges for purchasing liquor as a minor, possession/use of false evidence of age, minor in posession of alcoholic beverages and forging an official seal. All are misdemeanor charges.
As of Tuesday, the other student had not yet been arraigned.
Dean of Student Affairs Dr. Mark Davis has spoken with both students regarding the now-infamous purchases.
“They both feel very bad about the incident,” he said.
Davis also said that any discipline the students incur at Pepperdine will be carried out independently of the alcohol beverage control criminal investigations.
Pepperdine does not release information about students’’ judicial proceedings.
Davis also acknowledged many other universities deal with problems of underage drinking and alcoholic purchases with fake ID’s..
“Across the nation, we see the negative impacts of underage and irresponsible drinking on college students,” he said. “We are most concerned about the resulting harm that comes to themselves and others.”
In the Malibu community, the firings set off a firestorm of opinions and letters written to the Malibu Times. Some citizens called for the expulsion of the Pepperdine students involved while most asserted that the Ralphs employees should be reinstated. Some letters to the editor at the Malibu Times have been reprinted on the right side of the page.
Although the use of fake ID’s is not as prevalent as some residents have attested, some have been able to purchase them.
Students have said that purchasing fake identification cards can be done with varying degrees of difficulty around Los Angeles. Some students will have cheap ID’s made on Alvarado Street in downtown Los Angeles for a negotiable and usually inexpensive price. Other students purchase more sophisticated ID’s complete with holograms and the ability to scan. Such scan-able ID’s typically cost at least $100 and are typically purchased from acquantances or “friends of friends.”
One Seaver student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she purchased a fake ID Tuesday and used it in Malibu that evening.
“It’s not even (about) drinking,” she said of why she bought a fake. “It’s about getting into places.”
She said she paid $100 for hers while others have paid even more to purchase from the same person. She did not know who made the ID, nor the liaison between her friend and the supplier.
Another Seaver student said he purchased an ID at Pepperdine more than two years ago after two young men came through campus and offered authentic DMV-quality cards.
After having a digital picture taken, “you gave them the information (you wanted on your ID) and the next day they showed up with a stack of ID’s … and you gave them $80,” he said.
Although some students feel it’s essential to have a fake ID, the repercussions of using one can extend beyond individual punishment, as was the case with the Ralphs incident.
To many Pepperdine students, McDermott and Cicatelli were simply known as Harry and Nancy. The two had established a rapport with Pepperdine students that goes beyond a typical clerk-customer relationship. McDermott has been to the homes of Pepperdine students while Cicatelli is a neighbor to several students who live in Corral Canyon. That close relationship, however, led to their dismissal from Ralphs.
On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, the three Pepperdine students allegedly split up into two lines – one went to McDermott and the 21-year-old and the other minor checked out at Cicatelli’s line.
Cicatelli, an eight-year veteran of Ralphs, said during an interview in December that the three split up because they wanted to use their own credit cards to make their purchases. Had the 21-year-old bought for all three, the cashiers would not have faced punishment.
“I carded them many times before,” she said.
Therefore, instead of asking for their ID’s, she made small talk with the two students and sent them on their way. An officer at the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control followed the students outside and checked their ID’s. Cicatelli then learned that two were fake and one was real.
“I knew I’d be fired,” she said. Ralphs employees must sign a document every six months to say that they accept a zero tolerance policy on selling alcohol to minors. Because of the paper she signed, Cicatelli said she believes she won’t get her job back.
“(The policy) is stupidly strict,” she said.
McDermott declined to comment on the matter, but he did visit with Pepperdine students the day he was fired.
“He’s devastated,” junior Molly Dunlap said in December. A veteran of Ralphs for more than 25 years, the store has been his only job and the primary form of support to his wife and three children, Dunlap said. McDermott was so close with Dunlap and her four roommates that he showed up in October for one of the girls’ birthday parties.
Junior Derek Fossey, a neighbor of Cicatelli’s, also recognizes the closeness between the Malibu community and the two cashiers.
“They made Ralphs feel like a small-town store instead of a corporate institution,” he said.
Regardless, both students understand that serious violations occurred.
“When it comes down to it, they sold to minors,” Dunlap said. “There are not a lot of ways to get around that.”
Fossey said he hopes that won’t result in their permanent dismissal.
“They definitely made a mistake,” he said. “But they’ve served their punishment.”
The Ralphs veterans will also have to face punishment under the law. According to Ed Mimiaga, district administrator for ABC, selling to minors can result in a fine up to $1,000 and jail time lasting up to one year. He said jail time, however, is an unlikely scenario.
The students who purchased the alcohol also could face jail time, but a fine is more likely, Mimiaga said. All individuals cited could have to perform community service.
ABC is continuing an investigation into Ralphs alcohol-selling policies, which is separate from the four criminal cases of the students and cashiers.
January 16, 2003