published: Friday, February 15, 2013

Clerks in seven stores charged with selling alcohol to minors

New-Sun staff

On Saturday, Feb. 9, an undercover inspection of 39 retail stores selling alcohol in the county found seven establishments selling alcohol to individuals they believed were under age, the Highlands County Sheriff's Office Safe Neighborhoods Unit announced Tuesday.

Clerks in each of the stores were charged with selling alcohol beverages to a person under the age of 21. This is a misdemeanor offense.

The two stores selling to minors in Avon Park are the BP Gas Station at 3 US 27 N; and 7 Days Gas Station at 107 US 27 S.

Two of the stores are in Sebring: BP Fairmont at 3901 US 27 ; and Blue Steak at 3229 Kenilworth Blvd., diagonally across the street from Sebring High School.

There are three stores in Lake Placid: SweetBay Liquor at 1521 US 27 S; USA Groceries at 244 Country Road 621; and Rodney's Marathon at 1451 US 27 S.

On the positive side -- 31 stores, or 80 percent, were in compliance.