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Attorney General Bans Online Cigarette Dealer from Selling Products in Mass. [08/25-5]
Excerpts from: Online cigarette dealer nailed by AG for $125G
By David Weber Boston Herald [08/25/04]
On the heels of going after Internet gun dealers, Attorney General Tom Reilly obtained a $125,000 judgment yesterday that bars a Kentucky cigarette seller from peddling products in Massachusetts, where underage kids were skirting the law to buy smokes online.
The Suffolk Superior Court judgment prohibits the Dirt Cheap cigarette company from using its Web site - dirtcheapcig.com - from selling cigarettes in the Bay State.
Reilly's investigators found that Dirt Cheap was selling the smokes without verifying that buyers were over the age of 18, as required by Massachusetts law.
``Internet retailers must comply with the law when selling products to Massachusetts consumers - especially tobacco products,'' Reilly said. ``You can't sell them legally to children, and they can jeopardize their health at an early age.''
Reilly's office and Dirt Cheap agreed to the terms of yesterday's judgment, which resolves court complaints Reilly filed against the cigarette company. The terms call for Dirt Cheap to pay $125,000 to the state's Local Consumer Aid Fund.
In April, the state obtained a judgment against a Virginia-based cigarette seller that sold smokes to minors through its Web site - smokin4less.com.
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