Minor buys alcohol in 8-store sting

ELLSWORTH – A 20-year-old woman with a mission to buy booze visited eight stores in Ellsworth and Hancock on Saturday night as part of a police operation to see how well local stores are complying with laws regarding the sale of alcohol to underage patrons.

Turns out, not very well.

Police said the woman, who volunteered to be part of the investigation, walked out of all eight stores with alcoholic beverages in her hands.

In four hours, she purchased about $60 in beer and flavored alcoholic drinks despite having no proof that she was of legal age to do so, they said.

The sting was conducted by a special countywide task force that investigates underage drinking. Officers from the Ellsworth and Southwest Harbor police departments and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department participated.

Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Lepper said clerks at two of the eight stores asked the woman for identification, but sold to her anyway. The other six never even asked.

Mainers have to be 21 to buy alcoholic beverages legally.

“There were a couple of stores that asked [for ID], but she said she didn’t have it, and that was the extent of it,” he said Sunday. “That’s not what we want to find. We would rather have somebody go in and get turned down.”

State law requires clerks to ask for identification from any patron who appears to be under the age of 27.

Stores in Ellsworth cited in Saturday’s investigation include Wayside Market on Route 1, Mike’s Country Store on Water Street, Ellsworth Falls Mini Mart on Route 1A, Rite Aid on High Street, Ellsworth Irving Mainway on High Street, Mobil Mart on High Street and Hilltop One Stop on the Bar Harbor Road. Tideway Market on Route 1 in Hancock also was cited.

“I’m not sure if this is a blatant disregard for the law or carelessness in following the procedure to check IDs,” Hancock County Sheriff William Clark said.

Either way, store owners should make it a priority to educate their employees on liquor laws, because the task force plans to conduct similar investigations in the future, he said.

Police said they now will send documentation of the violations to the Department of Public Safety’s liquor licensing division, which could levy fines ranging between $50 and $1,500 against each store and each store clerk. Violations could jeopardize a store’s liquor license.

When contacted at home Sunday, Eddie Povich, owner of Mike’s Country Store, said he was embarrassed by the citation.

“We haven’t had a liquor violation in 20 or more years,” he said. “We don’t make it a practice to sell to underage [customers]. I try to train my employees to be very diligent. Underage youth getting alcohol is wrong, regardless of the situation.

“Mike’s Country Store is going to do a better job,” he said. “We have a policy to vigorously ID people. There’s no excuse. We apologize.”

Officers also conducted surveillance of suspected alcohol violations in store parking lots as part of Saturday’s investigation.

They arrested Kevin Doherty, 21, of Trenton on a charge of furnishing liquor to minors. Police said they saw him go into the Ellsworth Irving Mainway and emerge with alcoholic beverages that he gave to two 17-year-old girls. The girls were issued summonses on charges of possessing alcohol as minors.

Doherty was taken to the Hancock County Jail and later released on bail.

Police issued summonses to three other minors, including one who was 16 years old, on charges of illegal transportation of alcohol.

The underage-drinking task force was created in 2005 after the Sheriff’s Department received a $7,500 grant from the state Department of Health and Human Services to combat the problem of minors consuming alcohol. Police departments in Ellsworth, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, Bucksport and Gouldsboro also are involved.

Last weekend, the task force charged 15 people with alcohol violations after breaking up a party on the Surry Road.

Anyone with information about underage drinking may share tips with the task force by sending e-mail to uad@hancockcountyso.org.