Media

Undercover Beer Sting Results In Violations At Area Businesses

Release Date: October 03, 2005

Officers with the Metro D.U.I. Squad went undercover last Friday evening (September 30) and found clerks at 15 businesses in South Memphis and sections of South and East Shelby County selling alcohol to persons below the legal drinking age of 21.

Deputies and other officers visited 26 locations which included convenience stores, grocery stores and liquor stores. Most of the businesses were along Shelby Drive , Lamar, Tchulahoma and Airways. Other businesses were along Riverdale and Hacks Cross.

Most clerks who sold alcohol to underage customers received misdemeanor citations and will be booked and fingerprinted at the Records and Identification Division at the Sheriff's Office Jail Annex. One clerk was arrested. He was not registered with the Beer Board to sell alcohol and had no identification when officers conducted the sting.

Also this past Friday night, undercover D.U.I. officers patrolled at the midway area at the Mid-South Fair. They found 12 people under the age of 21 possessing beer. Earlier in the week, officers handed out seven (7) other violations at the fair for those possessing alcohol under the legal drinking age. The beer vendor at the fair WAS NOT CITED . Officers say the vendor checked the identification of all customers. However, some of those customers passed along the beer to those who were under 21 years old.

The stings last week and weekend were part of an on-going effort by the Metro D.U.I. Squad funded by the Governor's Highway Safety Office to stop the sale of alcohol to minors.

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