Alexandria police arrested seven store clerks for selling alcohol to minors, police announced Thursday. Officers made the arrests in a nighttime 18-store sting, sending minors into convenience, drug and grocery stores to buy alcohol.
Some of the seven clerks arrested looked at the minors’ identification cards before selling them booze; others didn’t, police spokesman Jody Donaldson said. When asked, the minors displayed their real Virginia drivers’ licenses — not fake IDs.
“There were no tricks involved,” Donaldson said. “It was pretty much straight up.”
The clerks were charged with selling alcohol to a minor — a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to a $2,500 fine and/or a year in jail.
“It’s definitely disheartening when you get any arrest in these type of operations, but seven does appear to be on the higher end of arrests for the number of establishments we went into,” Donaldson said.
Officers selected the stores based on complaints to the police asking for enforcement.
Donaldson said the names of the stores that sold to minors were forwarded to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which began an ongoing investigation into the businesses.
A store that sold alcohol to minors can receive anything from a written warning to a revocation of its liquor license, ABC spokeswoman Jennifer Farinholt said. The penalty depends on the circumstances, such as whether the store is a repeat offender.
Last year ABC sent minors into 4,684 Virginia stores to buy alcohol — almost 10 percent of stores sold it to them.
Some carded, some did not.
“Unfortunately we see a large percent of these people who are carded — their IDs say they are underage, but then a sale is made anyway,” Farinholt said.
Last week’s sting was part of Alexandria’s ongoing Youth Alcohol/Business Compliance campaign, which checks stores for youth alcohol sales a couple times a year, Donaldson said.
Neither Alexandria police nor ABC would release the names of the seven businesses caught.
