The owner of a market in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood accused of allowing drug deals and other illicit activity to take place there agreed today to pay $30,000 to the city and abide by a strict injunction, according to the city attorney’s office.
Barah Market, located at 200 Leavenworth St., was one of two Tenderloin markets targeted by City Attorney Dennis Herrera in a lawsuit filed Jan. 30 that alleged the business provided a safe haven for drug deals and also bought and sold stolen merchandise.
The other market named in the lawsuit, Razan Deli at 391 Ellis St., was ordered closed for a year by a judge on April 1.
A San Francisco Superior Court judge today approved an agreement requiring Jaber Algahim, the owner of Barah Market, to pay $30,000 over the next 45 months, as well as fulfill several other obligations.
The market must close between midnight and 7 a.m. each night, employ a security guard between 8 p.m. and midnight and maintain a video surveillance system, among other terms of the injunction, which will last for at least the next two years, according to the city attorney’s office.
The market “played a central role in drug dealing and related crimes that victimized its neighbors for too long, and the court acknowledged that the evidence of their lawlessness was overwhelming,” Herrera said in a statement.
“My clients are glad that they have this thing resolved, but at the same time, they feel the city and county was very hard on them,” said Dan Siegel, an attorney representing the market.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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