Clovis Police, ABC Agents Arrest 9 Adults in Shoulder Tap Alcohol Sting

Nine adults were arrested Saturday when Clovis Police Department officers and agents from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control ran a shoulder tap sting across Clovis liquor and convenience stores, targeting adults willing to purchase alcohol for someone under 21.

The operation, conducted March 14, works by placing an underage decoy outside a store under direct law enforcement supervision. The minor asks customers to buy alcohol and explicitly tells them they are underage and cannot make the purchase themselves. When an adult agrees and walks out with the beverages, officers move in. "We watch them completely, through the entire event, make sure that their safety is the utmost importance to us," said Clovis Police Sgt. Koch. "And then when the purchaser does come out with the purchased beverages we wait til they walk away then we contact them."

Anyone arrested for furnishing alcohol to a minor faces a minimum $1,000 fine and 24 hours of community service. "Underage drinking harms our community," said Clovis Police Corporal Russ Moring. "Preventing the sale of alcohol to minors will help to increase public safety and make our roads safer."

The March 14 operation is part of a yearlong campaign that also includes checking alcohol licenses and testing whether stores will sell directly to teenagers. That broader effort runs under the name Operation Shoulder Tap and is funded by a $35,500 grant from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. "This is just one tool to combat that and to let the public know that furnishing alcoholic beverages to minors is against the law, it's dangerous and we're not going to allow that to happen," said ABC investigator Jason Montgomery.

Saturday's arrests follow a January 2 operation in which ABC agents and Clovis Police arrested two suspects on the same charge of furnishing alcoholic beverages to minors. The agencies have also partnered on enforcement during the Clovis Rodeo, where a separate Trap Door operation resulted in 22 arrests over four days, including five people caught using fake IDs. Possession or use of a false ID carries a $250 fine, 32 hours of community service, and a one-year driver's license suspension.

The enforcement push is grounded in grim statistics: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that about 25 percent of all fatal crashes involve underage drinking. The consequences can be catastrophic, as demonstrated in the summer of 2010, when six people died in a Central Fresno crash after a 21-year-old purchased alcohol for an 18-year-old driver who lost control of her SUV, triggering a chain reaction that brought down a Greyhound bus as well. "ABC conducts these operations to keep alcohol out of the hands of our youth," said ABC Director Paul Tupy. "We can increase the quality of life in our communities and reduce DUI's by preventing underage drinking."

Names and charges for the nine adults arrested March 14 had not been released as of publication.