Two local stores sold wine coolers to an underage decoy last week, while another seven businesses sold cigarettes to a minor working with police during an alcohol and tobacco sting May 6.
New York Minute and the Davisburg Dixie Market, both in Springfield Township, sold the alcohol.
In both cases, the clerk asked for identification and was presented with the decoy’s real driver’s license’a vertical, under 21 format designed to help store employees identify underage patrons.
In both cases the clerk, a 35-year-old male at the Davisburg Dixie Market, and a 64-year-old female at New York minute, looked at the identification, handed it back and completed the sale.
The sting was conducted by Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Independence Township substation detectives and included about 30 businesses in Independence and Springfield Township.
‘Two isn’t too bad out of 30,? said Sgt. Matt Baldes, who heads the substation’s detective bureau. ‘I think the word is getting out, and people are doing a better job of checking identification.?
Those who don’t check, or check but fail to realize the person is underage, Baldes said, is a matter of training within the establishment.
New clerks, he said, need to be informed about the importance of checking identification’in addition to the business violation, those who sell to a minor get an individual citation, as well.
Clerks also need to understand that a vertical-format license automatically signifies an underage customer.
‘You don’t even have to read,? he said. You just need to understand if it’s vertical, no. You do not sell to that person.?
In coming weeks, both stores receive a violation notice from the Liquor Control Commission (LCC) and schedule a hearing.
‘Sometimes they fight it, sometimes they say ‘hey, we screwed up,? Baldes said, noting judgment can range from a $50 fine to revocation of a liquor license, depending on the circumstances.
In addition to the two stores who sold alcohol to those under 21, another seven’enough to warrant another sting in the near future, sold cigarettes to those under 18.
They include Bianca’s II Party Store, 7880 Andersonville Road; Citgo, 5465 Sashabaw Road, Shell, 6889 Sashabaw Road; Kroger, 6625 Dixie Highway; Walgreen’s 7110 Dixie Highway; Shell, 7251 Main Street.