Guthrie police officers spent part of the weekend cracking down on businesses selling alcohol to underage customers.
“Try to keep underage drinking down and we don’t want these businesses selling to people that aren’t 21,” Lt. Mark Bruning said.
They teamed up with prevention works and sent in mystery shoppers to stores around town.
“To do compliance checks on restaurants, bars, liquor stores convenience stores using undercover decoys basically and attempting to purchase beer and liquor from those spots,” Bruning said.
Investigators found five locations who sold booze without asking for identification: Petty’s Pit Stop, Rainbow Gas, G-Mart, Gary’s Liquor Store and Halftime Bar and Grill.
The owner of the establishment left in handcuffs after the sting. Bruning says this isn’t the first time this location has been cited for serving alcohol to patrons they shouldn’t.
“We arrested the bar owner who served the underage because we felt the serving was a lot more severe than the selling,” Bruning said. “They had sold alcohol to a person who was severely intoxicated to the point where they were falling down.”
Officers say it only takes seconds to ask for identification but the consequences for not doing so can be detrimental.
“It’s really not hard for them to ask for an ID. It’s really simple. If they just follow the law they won’t be contacted,” Bruning added.
All employees cited at the different locations will have to appear in court Monday. There were eleven places that followed the law and did not sell to underage customers.
