N.H. Officials Unaware of Stakeouts and Bootlegging Stings at State-Run Liquor Stores
A customer loads a case of Hennessey cognac into his vehicle. Photo by Todd Bookman for NHPR
Around noon of November 9th of last year, a Black Chevy Suburban pulled up to a New Hampshire liquor store. The driver, a 46-year old Queens, New York resident named Juncheng Chen, bought some booze, then headed off to another liquor store to make another purchase.
Then another, then another.
In total, Chen bought liquor at six different New Hampshire stores that afternoon.
Chen didn’t know it, but he was being watched. A criminal investigator with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance was trailing him from store to store,and then southbound on the highway. When Chen crossed the border back into New York, the investigator contacted a State Trooper.