Six Stung in Tobacco Sting

Six store clerks in San Luis Obispo were caught up in a tobacco sting held Jan. 26 by local police and the County Health Department.
SLOPD and the County Tobacco Control Program sent two teenagers into 36 local stores to try and buy tobacco products and check compliance with state laws. Six clerks sold to the decoys, some 16.7%, and one didn’t ask the boy for identification, according to a news release from the County.
According to the County, the six stores that sold tobacco to the underage teens were: San Luis Downtown Shell on Monterey Street; Rite Aid on Foothill Boulevard; Cork N’ Bottle Liquors, Foothill Blvd.; Conserve Fuel on Santa Rosa St.; Albertsons on Foothill; and Laguna Shell on Los Osos Valley Road.
In California it is illegal to furnish or sell tobacco products — cigarettes, cigars and chew — to anyone under 18. Such sting operations are the County’s and law enforcement’s way of trying to keep tobacco out of the hands of under aged people and are conducted periodically throughout SLO County.
Under the law, the teen decoys must produce proper ID if asked; they can’t lie about their age, and can’t be made up to look older than they are, among other guidelines. The citations are issued to the clerks and can run from $200-$1,000 depending on the judge and court fees.
Store owners are also notified and could be placed on probation by the County if they are repeat offenders. If it becomes a continuous problem, the license to sell tobacco products could be suspended or even revoked. The County also has a training program the stores can put their clerks through.