On Friday, Nov. 22, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputies, working with under age Sheriff’s Explorers as decoys, conducted a “Minor Decoy” operation.

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 seven-hour operation the decoys attempted to purchase alcohol at 25 ABC licensed businesses. At two locations store employees sold alcohol to the decoy. The employees were cited for furnishing alcohol to a minor.

One of these two employees was found to be on informal probation and had a misdemeanor arrest warrant for driving under the influence. She was cited on the warrant.

Funding for this program was provided by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.