New Mexico Operation Busts Businesses for Selling Alcohol to Minors
As school gets underway, law enforcement agencies say so is underage drinking. That’s why a campaign is underway in Las Cruces to put a stop to the problem.
Investigators said that problem starts with the purchase of the alcohol. ABC-7 followed decoys — two 18-year-olds — as they stopped at eight different stores to try and buy beer.
They’re decoys for Operation Gold Star, a joint operation meant to remind retailers of the role they play in the prevention of underage drinking. Two establishments were busted for allowing the teenage girls to buy beer.
“It’s easy,” one girl said. Because they work undercover, investigators did not reveal their identities. “There was nothing to it.”
At the Circle K on W. Picacho, the teens scored the beer, even after showing a convenience store clerk their real IDs. Douglas Slavens, an agent with the special investigations division for the Department of Public Safety, said the operation is not entrapment.
“Everybody has a choice to make,” Agent Slavens said. “You make a choice to go to work or not. You make a choice to sell or not. It’s easy.”
Besides citing servers and licensees that sell underage buyers, agents will also be awarding “Gold Star” letters acknowledging and thanking those who properly turn minors away.
“I’ll come back and those establishments that did not sell, I’ll tell them, ‘Hey y’all did a good job, pat on the back, give ’em their gold star,” Agent Slavens said.
