A 69-year-old Dade City convenience store owner is being held without bond at the Sumter County Detention Center after Florida Highway Patrol investigators say he let an 18-year-old drink inside his shop for nearly three hours before the teen got behind the wheel and died in a head-on crash. Sami Joseph Kasselyas was arrested yesterday and charged with homicide by culpable negligence, a felony far more serious than the misdemeanor typically reserved for selling alcohol to a minor.
The teen, identified as Zachary Shiloh Davis of Wildwood, was pronounced dead at the scene on US Highway 301 north of County Road 656 after his pickup truck crossed the centerline and struck another vehicle head-on at 8:46 p.m. on April 20, according to FOX 13 News. The driver of the second truck, a 28-year-old Webster man, survived with non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators determined Davis's blood alcohol content measured 0.510 grams per 100 milliliters, a level investigators described as lethal.
Cellphone Data Places Teen Inside the Store for Hours
Cellular location data, text messages, and selfies taken inside Sam's Quick Mart showed Davis was inside the convenience store for nearly three hours, from 5:27 p.m. until 8:19 p.m. that day, leaving just 27 minutes before the fatal collision, according to Villages-News.com. Cellphone records also confirmed Kasselyas himself was present in the store during that entire window, according to FOX 13 News. Davis and Kasselyas reportedly had 54 phone calls over a five-month span, per the same outlet, and Sam's Quick Mart is located at 39010 SR-575 in Dade City.
Troopers searching Davis's crashed pickup truck recovered cold cases of Natural Light beer, a bottle of MD 20/20, and an open wine cocktail — all items stocked by Sam's Quick Mart, the report notes. Authorities also found suspected marijuana in hemp containers inside the store, according to FOX 13 News, and text messages showed Davis and Kasselyas negotiating prices for cases of beer.
Sister Describes Pattern of Underage Sales
FHP investigators learned from Davis's sister that Kasselyas regularly sold alcohol to local underage youth at premium prices, and a forensic download of Davis's phone revealed text conversations negotiating beer prices and disputing money owed for an informal “beer tax,” the Villages-News.com report states. Davis's family and girlfriend told investigators he frequently bought alcohol from Kasselyas, according to FOX 13 News. Reports indicate that as a licensed alcohol vendor, Kasselyas should have known the excessive alcohol served to the teenager would lead to severe harm or death.
Medical reference data from the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Toledo indicates that a blood alcohol concentration of 0.40% or higher represents a standard median lethal dose capable of causing coma or fatal respiratory arrest. Davis's 0.510% level was well beyond typical survival thresholds and more than six times Florida's 0.08% legal driving limit. The information in this case was gathered from Florida Highway Patrol arrest reports and Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco inspection records, per FOX 13 News.
Why Prosecutors Reached for a Felony Charge
Under Florida Statute § 782.07, manslaughter by culpable negligence is classified as a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in state prison, 15 years of probation, and a fine of up to $10,000, according to the Jeff T. Gorman Law Offices. That charge carries far heavier consequences than Florida Statute § 562.11, which makes selling alcohol to anyone under 21 a second-degree misdemeanor carrying up to 60 days in jail for a first offense, escalating to a first-degree misdemeanor with up to one year in jail for repeat violations within a year, per the Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
Florida criminal case law defines culpable negligence for manslaughter as gross, flagrant conduct demonstrating a reckless disregard for human life or safety — a standard that exceeds ordinary civil negligence by reflecting open indifference to dangerous consequences, according to the Sammis Law Firm. That is the bar prosecutors must clear to convict Kasselyas of homicide rather than a simple alcohol-sales violation.
Civil exposure could also follow. While Florida Statute § 768.125 generally shields alcohol vendors from civil liability when serving intoxicated adults, the statute explicitly creates a dram shop exception allowing lawsuits against vendors who willfully and unlawfully sell or furnish alcohol to minors under 21, according to Florida's statutes as compiled by the state legislature.
Kasselyas was booked into the Sumter County jail and, per the arrest affidavit reported by Villages-News.com, a judge ordered him held without bond given the severity of the charge. Davis was born in Leesburg in May 2007 and had lived in Wildwood, according to Villages-News.com and legacy record listings.
