Discovery of cocaine, chickens leads to closure of Wisconsin bar
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Inside the El Cielo bar Wednesday afternoon, the open sign has been extinguished for the final time.
After closing Tuesday night, owner Ruben Albanil Coyolt's tavern license was permanently revoked. He's operated the bar at 12th Street and National Avenue in Milwaukee for nine years.
He explained Wednesday that he's still concerned about an ongoing Milwaukee police investigation stemming from a shots-fired incident there in October.
At a Milwaukee Common Council committee meeting earlier this month, police discussed the Oct. 18 incident.
"Officers recovered cocaine, drug paraphernalia, a suspected drug sales ledger, and 9-millimeter cartridges. Chickens were also located in the basement of the tavern," said an officer reading from a police report.
Up to four chickens can be kept on residential property in Milwaukee, but a permit is required, and the chickens must be in outdoor coops.
Coyolt is also accused of shooting a gun out of a window. He denied that it was him, saying it was a random person on the sidewalk out front. On Wednesday, Coyolt also said a bowl of cocaine that police said they found inside the building was not his.
But he did admit to WISN 12 News he was raising a couple of chickens in the basement near the beer storage. He explained, as he did at the committee meeting, he planned to eat them.
"The chickens that were located in the basement of the tavern, why were they there?" asked Alderperson Jocasta Zamarripa as Coyolt testified on Nov. 12.
"For eat," Coyolt said. "In my house, I live in the upstairs."
Zamarripa asked, "You kept them in the basement and then brought them up to kill them?"
Coyolt answered, "In my house, yeah."
In the end, between the cocaine, shots fired, noise complaints and the chickens, the alderpeople had heard enough.
"I just think he knows better than to get into the trouble he's gotten into," Common Council President Jose Perez said. The bar is in his former district, so he said he is well aware of the location's history. "So, I think the record speaks for itself, and I agree it's difficult to support this license."
The full Common Council voted to revoke the license at its meeting Tuesday.
Coyolt's attorney, Vince Bobot, said he could appeal the revocation to the circuit court, but they had decided against it.
The chickens were taken to the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control by Milwaukee police. One was euthanized because of its condition. The other was returned to Coyolt.