Two Restaurants Cited for Serving Minors Alcohol

Source: Santa Maria Police Department

The Santa Maria Police Department is happy to announce that we were selected to receive $79,292.00 in grant money from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) through the Department’s Alcohol Policing Partnership. The money will be used to conduct Shoulder Tap Operations, Minor Decoy Operations, COPS in SHOPS Operations, and IMPACT Inspections within the city of Santa Maria and Guadalupe. There will also be Three LEAD (License Education on Alcohol and Drugs) training for ABC establishments. The grant runs from July 2019 through June 2020.

On Saturday, 09/07/2019, the Santa Maria Police Department and agents from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) conducted a “Minor Decoy” operation throughout the City of Santa Maria. The program is designed to reduce youth access to alcoholic beverages. These type of operations are conducted by local law enforcement throughout the state.

During th e “Minor Decoy” operation a minor decoy, under the age of 21, attempted to purchase alcoholic beverages under the direct supervision of SMPD and ABC undercover officers. The decoy entered five “off-sale establishments” (liquor stores) and four “on-sale establishments” (restaurants). Two of the on-sale establishments, 805 Tacos and Taqueria Salsa Brava, furnished an alcoholic beverage to the seventeen year old minor decoy. Two restaurant servers were contacted and cited for furnishing an alcoholic beverage to a minor. The penalty for furnishing alcohol to a minor is a minimum $1,000 fine and 24 hours of community service. The establishment could possibly face administrative action through ABC.

Some of the establishments were visited because of ongoing issues. The public is encouraged to provide tips to SMPD as to any establishmentd that could possibly be violating ABC laws and regulations. This can be done be reaching out to Officer Matt Jensen at (805) 928-3781 ext . 1233.

The Minor Decoy program is intended to reduce the availability of alcoholic beverages to minors; statistics show that teens have a greater rate of drunken driving crashes than adults.

Funding for these programs are being provided by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control through the Department’s Alcohol Policing Partnership (APP) program.

For further questions regarding the upcoming “LEAD” training which is scheduled for October 29, 2019, please contact: Officer Matt Jensen at (805) 928-3781 ext. 1233.