A Chattanooga convenience store that had gained a reputation for ignoring rampant drug dealing on its premises has been declared a “public nuisance” by a Hamilton County Criminal Court judge.

Judge Rebecca Stern signed the “order of abatement” Thursday relating to the Discount Food Market at 2413 Fourth Ave., about a year after the district attorney’s office filed a complaint with the state and asked a criminal judge to padlock its front doors.

“The store itself had become a festering sore of drug sales,” Assistant District Attorney Bates Bryan said Thursday. “Discount Food made it easy for drug dealers to do their business.”

Mr. Bates made it clear that no criminal charges ever were pursued against the owners of the building, Ronald Yoon Koh and Ann S. Koh, or the manager, Kuldeep Singh.

“There was never any evidence that management helped with the drug sales,” Mr. Bryan said.

According to the order, however, “the defendants have been lax in addressing the problems on their premises as it relates to illegal activities by those in the community.”

The owners are now forbidden from knowingly permitting unlawful activities, according to the order. They are ordered not to let nonemployees loiter for more than 20 minutes, and they must maintain video surveillance and make it available to investigators at any time.

Discount Food Market already has taken measures to control such activities, the order noted.

Efforts to contact Mr. Singh were unsuccessful Thursday. Attorney Arvin Reingold, who represents Discount Food Market, said the order “speaks for itself,” and he expects the court to review activities at the store in six months.

Chattanooga police and the FBI already were conducting an undercover investigation of the store, located close to the East Lake Courts public housing site, prior to the complaint filed in Hamilton County Criminal Court.

The complaint cites evidence from that investigation, which includes testimony from people who said they bought or sold drugs there. Another person testified that the owner “allowed people to sell crack cocaine from the store for a $100 payment.”

Mr. Reingold said at the time that the allegations were “without any basis,” according to past reports.

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