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Sheriff’s Department Teams With ABC to Cite Those Selling, Buying Youth Alcohol
Compton Station hoping to secure grant through state agency to conduct similar sting operations on a regular basis

By Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer

In a move to discourage underage drinking, Compton Station and the state department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) partnered last week to conduct what authorities contend was a successful sting operation.

Last Wednesday afternoon, The Bulletin tagged along on the undercover operation to see firsthand how the activities are carried out. By the end of the approximately five-hour exercise, three stores and five individuals were cited for either selling or purchasing alcohol for youth under 21.

Divided into two teams, the 11 participants from the two law enforcement agencies performed two types of stings targeting businesses selling liquor to teens as well as patrons who agree to purchase alcohol for individuals under the legal drinking age.

The first, known as a decoy operation, used a 19-year-old female who is employed by the Sheriff’s Department as a custody assistant. The other, referred to as the “shoulder tap,” employed two 20-year-old custody assistants, a male and female.

Illegal Sales to Minors
In the decoy scenario, the team of one decoy; two deputies, one in plain clothes and an unmarked vehicle; and three ABC investigators hit every location on a list of 17 local liquor stores. Each of the 17 targeted were notified by hand-delivered letter about two weeks before the operation that such an exercise would be conducted.

Despite this written notification, three area store clerks sold the 19-year-old a 24-oz. can of beer without carding her. These stores are Bunny’s Liquor at the corner of Willowbrook Avenue and Alondra Boulevard, Handy’s Liquor and Deli at 1550 Wilmington Ave. and F & C Liquor at 2000 W. Compton Blvd.

The decoy told The Bulletin that none of the three stores that sold to her asked her age or for her ID.

Lt. Joseph Gooden said that the written notifications were not legally required for this type of sting, but the department wanted to cover its bases when perpetrators are taken to court. Also, the goal is not to bust locations for breaking the law, but to increase compliance with the law in the first place.

A number of strict guidelines, however, regulate how the Minor Decoy Program is conducted. They date back to a 1994 State Supreme Court ruling allowing minors to be used by law enforcement agencies to see if stores are selling to those under age.

The decoy used must not only be under the age of 20, but also has to appear and have the same mannerisms as someone that age is reasonably expected to have. He or she must carry his or her real ID or no ID at all. If asked his or her age by the store clerk, he or she cannot lie, and if asked for ID, he or she must present it. Anything else would constitute entrapment and the defendant(s) in the case would have an automatic defense.

At the time of the 1994 ruling, the compliance rate of stores statewide was about 50 to 55 percent, according to ABC. In some cities, as many as one out of every two stores failed to check a minor’s age before selling him or her alcohol. But today, more than 10 years after the program was instated, compliance rates are up to 95 to 98 percent, which the state agency directly links to the decoy program.

Last week’s sting reveals that the Hub City’s compliance rate is a bit lower, at 82.4 percent.
The three store clerks who sold the decoy alcohol were each criminally cited and will be fined $250, according to ABC Investigator Jeanine Peregrina. Additionally, she said the holder of each store’s liquor license, or the licensee, will be held administratively responsible and faces suspension of his or her liquor license for up to 15 days.

Can You Buy Me Some Beer?
With the Minor Decoy Program’s success in preventing teens from purchasing alcohol, minors have turned to another method of illegally obtaining booze — asking store patrons to buy it for them.

This is where the Shoulder Tap Program comes into play. Last week, two 20-year-olds posed as underage kids thirsty for a drink.

Last week’s shoulder-tap team, comprised of one ABC investigator and three deputies, one in plain clothes and an unmarked car, along with the two decoys, visited a handful of liquor stores. At every stop, the two were easily able to get an unsuspecting adult to buy them a six pack.

In this scenario, the stores or markets are in no way at fault and are not cited. The two 20-year-olds approached an adult preparing to enter the store, told the adult they were under 21 and gave him or her money to purchase them some beer. At each location, it took no more than three tries before someone agreed.

A total of five individuals, four men and one woman, all over the age of 40, were detained and cited for furnishing alcohol to a minor. They each face a fine of $1,000 as well as 24 hours of community service.

In ABC Investigator Enrique Alcala’s eyes, the punishment is much steeper for citizens compared to that for stores and clerks in part due to lobbying efforts by alcohol companies.

Deputy Danny Viscarra, a member of Compton Station’s Special Assignment Team, which participated in the sting operations, said the team has been working on last Wednesday’s activities since December.

Lt. Gooden said the station in March applied for a grant with ABC to conduct undercover stings such as last week’s on a more regular basis. Through ABC’s grants program, a total of $3 million is given to approximately 35-40 law enforcement agencies statewide each year to fund the operations.

The station expects to hear within the next month or two whether or not it was successful in securing the $125,000 allotment it applied for.

The goal of ABC’s underage decoy program is to reduce underage consumption of and access to alcohol, expanding involvement with local law enforcement in enforcing underage drinking laws and raising public awareness about the problem.

According to the agency, crashes, suicides, homicides and accidents tied to underage alcohol consumption cost California taxpayers approximately $6.5 billion annually.

Being the No. 1 drug of choice among teens, alcohol is the leading cause of death in their age group.

According to the group Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD), three out of every four students have consumed an alcoholic beverage by the end of high school. And 41 percent of those students had tried alcohol by eighth grade.

A more recent study cited by ABC reveals that more than half of high school seniors have consumed alcohol in the past 30 days.

The Special Assignment Team most recently partnered with ABC during a February raid in Richland Farms targeting residents participating in the illegal sale of raw milk.