Updated 10/2/12:30p.m: Baskin' Robbins has been re-opened as of Tuesday morning. Check back for the full story tomorrow.
Original story:
The Ridgefield Baskin Robbins has been closed until further notice after the Ridgefield Health Dept. Director, Edward Briggs, walked in on the shop’s owner sleeping on the floor around 7 a.m. Tuesday morning.
The latest violation was the tipping point for Briggs, who said that the owner had been reprimanded for similar health violations during the last five months.
Briggs said he had contacted the Baskin Robbins franchise owner, Dunkin’ Brands, and that the ice cream shop will remain closed until the Briggs can “be assured that these violations don’t occur” again. In this case, ‘assurance’ means that Dunkin’ Brands will “closely monitor” the owner, he said.
“Depending on what they [the Dunkin Brands’ legal dept.] say, she will be allowed to operate with some severe constraints, or her license may be revoked,” said Briggs.
Briggs said he expects to hear a response from the legal department by Monday, and the decision to shutter Baskin’ Robbins or not will be made mid next week.
The first complaint on the shop’s owner, whom the Ridgefield Press identified as Linda Wang, came roughly five months ago when a woman walking with her child to Starbucks allegedly saw Wang changing clothes through front glass windows.
The woman said Wang “was changing with basically no clothes, basically in front of the window,” said Briggs. “We went down and investigated it... She [Wang] admitted to staying overnight but agreed that she wasn’t going to do it anymore, so we basically left her alone. But the people who made the complaint were quite upset with me,” said Briggs. However, “it was the limit of what we [could] do,” he said.
Approximately a couple of months ago, Briggs was on his way to Starbucks in the early morning when he said he spotted Wang washing her hair in the three-bay sink. She was again reprimanded. Then last week, Baskin Robbins failed a health inspection because there were various personal items such as a hairdryer and a change of clothes inside the shop.
On Monday, Briggs was once again on his way for a coffee at Starbucks when he noticed the Baskin’ Robbins door ajar and that the building appeared empty, so he waited for a while for any activity. Seeing none, he called the police in case a break-in or other incident requiring emergency personnel had occurred.
Briggs said he and responding officers found Wang “sound asleep” on the floor.
“She’s not supposed to have blankets, pillows and clothes there. That should be kept in the car. That’s a good indication to the extent that she’s been there,” he said.
“She has demonstrated that she can’t be trusted, so she needs monitoring,” said Briggs.
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