NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
March 14, 2008
Contact: Michele Nicholson
Public Information Officer
(850) 651-7420
28 CHARGED IN UNDERAGE
ALCOHOL SALES OPERATION
Twenty-eight
convenience store clerks across Okaloosa County are being served a criminal
summons to appear before a judge in connection with an underage alcohol sales
operation conducted by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Problem-Oriented
Policing unit – or POP Squad.
Sgt. Kevin
Kirkpatrick says over a two-week period, officers supervised as teenagers under
the age of 18 attempted to buy alcohol at eighty convenience stores in the
county. The teens were successful at 28 locations. In some instances the teens
were able to buy alcohol even after telling clerks their actual ages or
providing ID that showed them to be underage.
Kirkpatrick says
the timing of the operation was planned to coincide with the influx of teens
during Spring Break.
The State
Division of Alcohol, Beverage, and Tobacco also took part in the operation.
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