State alcohol control agents have served arrest warrants on two employees of Ruben”s Fish House after a patron was found dead of acute alcohol intoxication May 31 at the restaurant.
Dylan Hicks, 28, of 122 Poplar St., Columbus, and Joseph “Joey” Cox, 28, of 265 Nash Road, Columbus, were charged with selling/furnishing alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated person.
The maximum penalty for each, if convicted, would be a fine of $500 and six months in jail.
Hicks and Cox turned themselves in to Mississippi Alcoholic Beverage Control enforcement personnel this morning at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center. Bond for each was set at $650 each.
John Caldwell, 46, of Columbus died after participating in a drinking game with Cox, who was off-duty, in the Loft, Ruben”s upstairs bar, Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant said at the time of the incident.
Over the course of about an hour, the two men tried to out-drink each other before employees took them downstairs away from the bar to sleep it off, Merchant said. Cox regained consciousness and left, and Caldwell”s body was found later in the night.
Agents are continuing their investigation with regard to any administrative charges that could be filed against the business” alcoholic beverage permit.
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