Apr 27, 2008 8:41 am US/Eastern
I-Team Investigation: Dangerous Brew Crackdown
State Cracks Down On Stores Selling Alcohol To Teens
63 Arrests Have Been Made In South Florida
SOUTH FLORIDA (CBS4) ―
State agents are following up on a
CBS4 I-Team investigation that first exposed a potentially dangerous drink being sold to children.
It's an 'energy' drink that contains more than just caffeine; it contains alcohol.
Now a major statewide bust is underway to make sure stores are keeping the drinks out of the hands of children.
In an unprecedented statewide initiative, agents with the Florida Department of Alcohol Beverages and Tobacco spotted checked convenience stores to find out which ones were selling alcoholic energy drinks to kids.
Major Pat Roberts said the effort is in large part to the
CBS4 I-Team investigation which found the drinks taste like soda but are packed with a potentially dangerous mix of alcohol and caffeine.
"That's why we are out here tonight," said Roberts, "the story that was aired by
CBS4 has created a statewide initiative, we are all out there tonight; 250 agents teamed up with local police agencies are doing compliance checks all over the state of Florida, mainly because of the story that was aired by channel 4 on the energy drink issue."
As part of their investigation, the state enlisted the help of 16 and 17-year old teens who volunteered to go into the stores to buy the energy drinks. When asked if he thought it was going to be hard to buy the drinks one of the 16-year old volunteers, who was not identified to protect his identity, said probably not.
"Maybe, maybe not, because most people really don't care about the youth these days, they just care about making money," said the teenage volunteer.
After making that statement, he walked into a convenience store and moments later purchased a number of energy drinks.
In the last 9 months, state agents have checked 109 locations in South Florida and have arrested 63 clerks and store owners for selling alcoholic energy drinks to minors.
Store clerks charged with selling alcohol to minors face a $500 fine and up to 90 days in jail. Store owners whose clerks are caught selling alcohol to minors could lose their liquor license.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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