Pompano Beach, FL — (Broward Sheriff’s Office) – Detectives say there was more on the menu at a Pompano Beach restaurant than just Chicago-style hot dogs, pizza and chili.
According to deputies, restaurateur Louis Younglove Sr. not only served up hot dogs with fixings. He helped some people get their fix by peddling drugs.
BSO detectives culminated a monthslong investigation on Thursday, Feb. 4 when they conducted a traffic stop on Younglove at 334 S.E. 15th St. in the parking lot of his restaurant, Chi-Town Chicago Italian Beef & Hot Dogs.
Inside a duffle bag in Younglove’s car, detectives found a smorgasbord of illegal drugs – cocaine, fentanyl, ecstasy, marijuana and various prescription drugs. Detectives also found more than $18,000 in cash. Younglove’s son, Adam, was a passenger in the car. He was found in possession of fentanyl and marijuana and was arrested.
On the same day, detectives served a search warrant at Younglove’s Oakland Park home and discovered even more illegal narcotics inside, as well as nearly half a million dollars in cash.
“This was not like your average street supplier who maybe sold a couple of bags of cocaine on the side. This was a systematic operation to distribute a lot of narcotics. He had a lot of cash,” said BSO Lt. Andrea Tianga. “This was not normal for your average street sale. This was a huge operation.”
“This was a great person to get off the street. The community was completely fed up which is how we became involved,” Tianga said. “This was a significant amount of narcotics, prepackaged for selling, and it was a significant amount of money that didn’t seem to us to be like through hot dog sales.”
Using a myriad of investigative techniques, BSO disrupted this major narcotics operation and ended the days of Chi-Town being “High-Town” for drug seekers. As a result of the investigation, Younglove Sr. faces more than a dozen criminal charges and is currently being held in jail.
