“To be honest we were very disappointed,” said Deputy Chief Todd Green.
Out of 22 stores that sell alcohol 12 illegally sold to individuals under the age of 21.
“This is the first one since I’ve been in charge of the division where over 50 percent of the stores sold to underage drinkers,” said Green.
Several times a year the Narcotics and Vice Investigation Division investigators will go out to businesses in Corpus Christi to make sure they are following the rules.
“The way we do it we don’t try to trick anybody we don’t have false ID’s,” said Green.
Green says they’ll send in an individual working with investigators who is over the age of 18 but under the age of 21 into a store to try and buy alcohol.
If the individual succeeds the person who sold them the alcohol faces a Sale to Minor charge which is a class A misdemeanor.
“It’s the highest level misdemeanor in the state of Texas,” said Green. “If convicted you could face up to a year in jail and or a $4000 fine.”
Green did not want to disclose which stores “failed” the operation, but he did say no specific stores were targeted.
He says stores all the way from Annville to the south side of town were investigated.
The results will be reported to the Texas Alcoholic and Beverage Commission (TABC) and businesses could face revocation or suspension of their license as well as a fine.
“We intend to come back to those stores probably in the near future and run the operation again and see if they’ve changed their monitoring of the clerks,” said Green.
