The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, under a grant funded through the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, conducted a minor decoy operation to catch those establishments selling alcohol to those not old enough to purchase it legally.

The operation partners deputies with Stanislaus County Sheriff’s explorers.

Minor decoy operations are compliance checks designed to reduce youth access to alcohol. A minor working directly with law enforcement will enter a liquor or convenience store and attempt to purchase an alcoholic beverage from the store employee. If the clerk sells alcohol to the minor then law enforcement will cite them for the crime of furnishing alcohol to a minor and they can face fines up to a thousand dollars.

During the eight-hour operation the decoys attempted to purchase alcohol at twelve ABC licensed businesses. At two locations store employees sold alcohol to the decoys. Each of those two employees were cited for furnishing alcohol to a minor.
Funding for this program was provided by an ABC grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.”