OCSO Conducts Undercover Operation, Catches Businesses Selling Alcohol To Minors

The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office wants business owners to think twice before selling alcohol to minors. An undercover operation had the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office on the move for months. 

The Sheriff’s Office told News 9 they aren’t trying to trick anyone. This operation is for educational purposes in the hope that those out of compliance train their employees. 

Their goal was to go around to different establishments and make sure they weren’t selling alcohol to minors. 

“Since January we have visited more than 400 different establishments, liquor stores, restaurants, bars with an underage decoy. Of those, roughly 100 of them have sold to our underage decoy,” said Aaron Brilbeck with the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office. 

In some cases, the minor still got served alcohol even after they disclosed their age. 

“We are surprised at how many times one of our decoys will be asked for a license, the server will look at the license, and still serve them even though the license says they are underage,” said Brilbeck. 

The Sheriff’s Office said this is part of a larger issue. 

“A lot of restaurants are very shorthanded right now and with that comes a lack of training. We are trying to emphasize to restaurant owners, liquor store owners, that you really need to train our people and train them well,” said Brilbeck. 

With the rising number of teens consuming alcohol, he hopes this operation stays with business owners. 

“In the state of Oklahoma, 40% of students say that they regularly consume alcohol. Twenty percent of alcohol sales in the state of Oklahoma are consumed by people that are underage and 11% of students say that within the last 30 days they have driven after drinking,” he said. 

In the cases where alcohol was sold to a minor the Sheriff’s office issued them a fine and a misdemeanor complaint.