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Three Charlotte retailers have been cited for selling alcohol to a minor after officers with the Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Commission Law Enforcement sent a 17-year-old boy into to area stores to try to buy an alcoholic beverage Friday night during an undercover sting.
The boy tried to buy a 24-ounce can of Four Loko, an alcoholic energy drink, at 16 locations across the county, Tony Chesser, a drug recognition expert with ABC law enforcement, said Saturday night.
He said 13 of those stores refused to sell to the boy, who used his real North Carolina driver’s license to try to purchase the drinks.
But two locations sold Four Loko to the boy without checking his ID, Chesser said. And another sold to the boy even after checking his license.
Officers cited clerks at the B Lawyers Food Mart, at 5808 Lawyers Road, the Circle K at the corner of Monroe Road and Sardis Road North and the City Mart at 2217 Village Lake Drive, Chesser said.
The clerks were cited on misdemeanor criminal charges, and the stores were written up in violation of state law.
No one was available at any of the stores Saturday for comment.
The individual clerks will have to go to court to defend themselves against the charges, and the stores will have to go in front of the ABC Commission in Raleigh, Chesser said.
The commission will decide in each case whether to fine the store, suspend its license to sell alcohol or both, Chesser said.
It is the second time in a month that the Circle K at 9726 Monroe Road has been cited for selling alcohol to a minor, Chesser said. He wrote up the store on Dec. 20, after Charlotte-Mecklenburg police found it had sold alcohol to an underage person, he said.
