Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office Stops Minors' Access To Alcohol And Tobacco In Recent Operation

The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office said more than 1,000 compliance checks were completed throughout the metro. They said several people were caught selling alcohol or tobacco to minors.

For the past 15 years, Charles Avery has been part of a program that is aimed to stop underage drinking, called 2 Much To Lose.

“Here recently we've had a couple of instances where minors have consumed alcohol and it's resulted in either an injury or a death,” Avery said.

In the last 12 months, the sheriff's office completed 586 alcohol compliance, 586 over service checks and 50 tobacco compliance checks.

“We take a juvenile out to a convenience store or a restaurant. Have them attempt to purchase alcohol,” Avery said.

There are no tricks. They use their real ID's.

“If they look like they're too old. We don't use them,” Eric Smoot with the Oklahoma ABLE Commission said.

The Oklahoma ABLE commission said it's in on the program as well. 

“We've seen about a 30 percent sale rate and that's much higher than what we like to see,” Smoot said.

The Oklahoma County District Attorney filed charges this month on employees at multiple businesses for selling to minors.

“We still go back, and we cite the business. They're still responsible for the actions of their employees,” Smoot said. 

The sheriff's office and the ABLE Commission said they've heard excuses like the offender misread the ID or they wanted to avoid a confrontation.

“That's a district charge, that's not a municipal charge, that means that they've got to get an attorney, they've got to go before a district judge. It's not just a traffic violation or a slap on the wrist,” Avery said.

Officials said it's pretty easy to find out if someone is underage.