4 accused of buying alcohol for minors in S. Tahoe
Four people, including two South Lake Tahoe residents, were arrested this weekend in an operation targeting people buying alcohol for minors.
Dubbed Shoulder Tap Decoy Operation, the March 15 event had more than 100 law enforcement agencies in the state involved.
Arrested in South Lake Tahoe were: Stevie Smith, 23, from Pasadena; Harvey Hampton, 58, from South Lake Tahoe; Charles Kerr, 72, from South Lake Tahoe; and Hamza Salmi, 32, from San Francisco.
In total, the operation resulted in 522 arrests. Most people were cited for furnishing alcoholic beverages to minors, and others have been arrested for crimes such as drunken driving, illegal drugs, false identification, open containers in public, public drunkenness, parole violations and outstanding warrants.
The program uses a minor under the direct supervision of a peace officer to stand outside a liquor or convenience store and ask patrons to buy them alcohol. The minor indicates in some way he or she is underage and cannot purchase the alcohol. If the adults agree to purchase alcohol for the minor, officers then arrest and cite the person for furnishing alcohol to the minor.
The penalty for furnishing alcohol to a minor is a minimum $1,000 fine and 24 hours of community service.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
That penalty sounds more severe than a DUI, what’s up with that?
not giving out parking tickets?
got to make the money some how.
This is a good program, putting
fear into adults that are takng down
our minors
The fine should be DOUBLED and the community service should be 500 hours, We have enough problems with our youth now, lets not add to it.
Honestly, buying alcohol for minors in this town is nothing compared to what really goes on here. Ironic that Police bust individuals buying minors alcohol when the police are corrupt themselves.
I agree with xlocal
While I am not in favor of minors drinking, this sounds a lot like entrapment. Is the kid offering money in addition to that required to buy the booze?
I do recognize all the perps have to do is say NO..can’t do that.
$522000 for a days operation. Pretty good money. There will be court costs in addition to the fine for those convicted.
Has anyone read about the Humboldt County NV sheriff’s practice of stopping motorists on I 80, searching their cars and persons on some pretext and confiscating large amounts of cash, even if no citations were issued?
what have our civil servants come to?
Pretty sure it is called entrapment ,Sitting up to trap someone is like invasion of privacy ,There is a law pretty sure about if a cop pulls you over ,and if you dont trust that cop ,you can wait to see if that cop calls another one, Its getting to be you can not really trust anyone now days, but you have rights to,
Kathy whats the difference between a “sting” and entrapment? There is a difference, one is legal, one is not.
Thank you Moral,I do know the difference ,Have a nice day,
Wake me up when they start arresting heroin dealers.
This could be a scene in the next Cheech and Chong movie. I can envision the cops hiding in their new assault vehicle with a couple of tree branches as camouflage.
Maybe a CHP helicopter hovering waiting to arrest a hobo buying malt liquor for some high school kids. I bet there is state matching funds for overtime involved.
They act like this is brain surgery. Maybe they could pull over some of the meth heads driving 50 mph down Glorene Ave at 1:30 am to buy their last twelve pack of ice beer at 7/11.