CUMMING - The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office took a bit of a break on their crackdown on businesses selling alcohol to underage buyers last month, but this past Saturday, officers started the operation again with overwhelming results.
Forsyth County Sheriff's Deputy Doug Rainwater said investigators spent the entire day Saturday canvassing 100 businesses across the county. When they were done, nearly two dozen of those establishments had sold alcohol to a person under the age of 21.
"[That's] one in five businesses," said Rainwater. "You may have five businesses at one intersection, so when you think about one of those businesses may be selling to underage kids, that's a lot."
Rainwater said a total of 22 businesses sold alcoholic beverages to an underage person in this latest sweep. While that number is high, he said he doesn't believe most of those businesses are purposely breaking the law.
"They're not making sure that the people they hire understand that when somebody buys alcohol, you have to ask for their ID," said Rainwater.
Not only are there consequences for the people who actually sell the alcohol, said Rainwater, but there are also problems for the business owners, even if they were unaware of the incident.
"Everybody that was charged with selling alcohol to an underage person has to go before Magistrate Court - before a judge - and there is a fine...if you're found guilty," said Rainwater. "Just as important...every business owner now has to go before the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners. So your business license eventually is at stake if you continue to allow your employees to sell alcohol to underage people."
Rainwater said the Sheriff's Office won't be taking any more breaks in the crackdowns, either, saying that these undercover sweeps will continue to happen two to three times per month until the violations decrease.
Saturday
May 4th, 2024
11:06AM
