Ventura County – Proving once again that “no good turn goes unpunished,” Jorge Casas, a 63 year-old resident of Northridge visiting the nearby city of Thousand Oaks, found himself in handcuffs after visiting an area convenience store.
According Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. John Wright, on the evening of March 15th, the Moorpark Police Department’s Special Enforcement Unit and the Thousand Oaks Police Department’s Directed Enforcement Team, pursuant to their ongoing efforts to control the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors, “conducted an alcohol enforcement operation, in which underage minor decoys were used.”
With a team of youngsters “under the direct supervision of law enforcement officers”, the enforcement team staked out a series of stores operating with Alcoholic Beverage Control licenses, with the decoys specifically tasked to ask store patrons to buy them beer, wine, and liquor. The team approached no less than 36 individuals at four different locations, 35 of whom were either apparently quite aware of the county’s well-publicized “shoulder tap” operation, or are perhaps stellar citizens concerned about underage drinking as a social problem. One unlucky fellow—perhaps recalling his own youthful indiscretions—agreed to so some shopping for the youngsters and quickly found himself in the company of adults providing him with handcuffs and a recitation of his Miranda rights.
For his good (albeit illegal) intentions, Casas was booked into Ventura County Jail and charged with violating the California Business and Professions Code proscribing the furnishing of alcohol to minors.
Read more:
EdHat: Alcohol ‘shoulder tap’ operation
Sespe Sun: Moorpark ‘shoulder tap’
