St. Lucie County Sheriff's Deputy Marcus Sigmon, center, talks with Deputy Troy Glover on Tuesday while both help conduct an undercover check to see whether local businesses are selling alcohol to minors.

One guy seemed like he was flirting. He called the blond-haired customer who walked into his liquor store a young bloomer, she said.

Another clerk asked the 18-year-old for identification so it would look “good for the cameras,” the teen said.

Both store clerks were among the nine people who were cited for selling alcohol to someone younger than 21 during alcohol sale compliance checks done by St. Lucie County Sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday night. They face misdemeanor charges for the sales.

Three confidential informants – two 18-year-old women and one 19-year-old man – walked into 38 stores across St. Lucie County and tried to purchase booze.

Most times, they couldn’t do it.

In one stop, a clerk accused an informant of working undercover for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. In another, a woman almost sold alcohol to a teen but changed her mind at the last minute.

The point for the school resource officers working that night wasn’t to rack up a long list of violators. It was to remind stores that employees need to be more careful when dealing with their younger customers.

It was a lesson that Chris Nowland said he wouldn’t forget.

The 24-year-old clerk at 1st Base Discount Beverage in Port St. Lucie was given a notice to appear in court for selling a Tecate beer can to an 18-year-old informant. After talking with deputies and an officer with the state Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Nowland said that when he went to check the woman’s ID, he got his age limits for alcohol and tobacco sales switched.

“After she left I thought to myself, I did something wrong,” Nowland said.

Deputy Troy Glover hoped the compliance checks helped save lives. The younger the drinker, the higher the risk that he or she makes a wrong decision and drives drunk, he said as he drove a sheriff’s car from one business to another.

“That’s the ultimate goal is to save lives,” Glover said.

A growing concern for law enforcement is a new batch of alcoholic energy drinks that seem to appeal to teens. Not only are they still illegal for underage drinkers, but some contain twice the alcohol content that beer does. They also are sold in containers larger than the typical beer can, Lt. Kevin Dietrich said.

Dietrich said parents should call deputies to report any businesses that they know have sold alcohol to their underage kids.

“We’ll take it and we’ll put in on our list to take a look at in the future,” he said.

Tags: alcohol, Chris Nowland, informant, Kevin Dietrich, school resource officer, St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, Troy Glover, underage drinking

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 10:49 am and is filed under Community events, Crime, Port St. Lucie, St. Lucie County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.