Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
Return to ABC Bureau of Law Enforcement Web page.
Tom Schaad: It's one of the greatest threats to our teens, but it's legal, only for those over 21.
Alveta Ewell: But for those underage, there is an increased chance that alcohol consumption will be lethal. 10 on Your Side's Kay Young started investigating to find out what's being done to protect our kids. Kay.
Kay Young: Well, guys, law enforcers and lawmakers say parents share in responsibility to keep their kids from drinking. But parents cannot do it all. In fact, a 10 on Your Side viewer contacted us because she wanted to know if anyone is keeping adults from selling booze to teens in our community, so we went undercover with an agent who says it's his mission in Hampton Roads.
[Siren sounds.]
David Huff: Alcohol related fatalities are one of the leading cause of death for young adults between the ages of 16 and 24.
Kay Young: It is a sobering reality. 10 on Your Side went to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control to find out what agents are doing to keep alcohol out of the hands of young people.
David Huff: One, two and three.
Kay Young: Part of the answer lies with this 17 year old. The ABC recruits and trains underage people. A supervised underage buyer heads into businesses that hold licenses to sell alcohol and tries to buy beer.
David Huff: We are hoping that the respective establishment and -- and the clerk working there, or the waiter or the waitress, will do the right thing, will scrutinize the individual, their identification, and refuse the sale.
Kay Young: 10 on Your Side went on an undercover operation with Special Agent David Huff. We went to random convenience stores in Virginia Beach, novelty shops at the Oceanfront, even a grocery store. Seven times, clerks refused the sale. One clerk failed the test. The underage buyer walked into a Sunsations location just behind the agent and walked out with a bag containing a 24-ounce bottle of beer.
David Huff: I need my ticket book. Cited for violation of State Code 4.1-304, which is the sale to an underage person.
Kay Young: And carries penalties of up to one year in jail and/or a $2,500 fine.
Sunsations never responded to our request for an interview about the sale. But 10 on Your Side learned that penalties do extend to businesses.
Betty Turner: Just like any other convenience store, if you lose your beer license, you might as well shut down.
Kay Young: Betty Turner manages Jr. Markets. When we went undercover at this one on London Bridge Road, the clerk refused to sell to the teen.
Betty Turner: I called him right away and I told him good job.
Kay Young: Clerks and teens do face criminal charges, but once the criminal process is complete, then the business manager or owner could end up here, to face an administrative judge and explain exactly why their business should not face disciplinary action.
David Huff: There is a requirement that when you're selling alcohol, and considering the potential, the very bad things that can happen when alcohol is provided to individuals who shouldn't possess it, there is a high standard that we expect of -- of a licensee and a person selling alcohol.
Kay Young: And you've seen these signs everywhere. A valid ID is required for the purchase of alcohol. It's the law.
Actually, it's not the law. In Virginia, it's illegal for a clerk to sell alcoholic beverages to anyone he has reason to believe is less than 21.
10 on Your Side asked Virginia Beach Delegate Chris Stolle to clarify, why doesn't Virginia have everyone who wants to buy alcohol show identification?
Chris Stolle: Look, the responsibility is still on the vendor if that -- if the characteristics of that individual make you believe that they're not 21 years old.
Kay Young: Even, Stolle explains, if an underage buyer has a fake ID.
Chris Stolle: I -- I think that you say card everybody and that allows them to sort of hide behind that law. Now, this says you have to verify that age, and how you verify that age, you're going to be held accountable for how you do that.
Kay Young: Turner says it's up to her and her counterparts to be accountable to the public when it comes to underage drinking.
Betty Turner: It's important not to feed into it, not to help it along, you know? If -- if we do our job, and, in our company, our job is to ID, our job is to make sure that they're above 21.
Kay Young: The law says businesses cannot sell to underage people, so businesses have policies to make sure employees are obeying the law.
Betty Turner: If you look 35 and under, we ID, each and every time.
Kay Young: Agent Huff says in two decades of working in alcohol enforcement, he's learned it only takes one underage purchase and consumption to put lives in danger.
David Huff: Because one can get it on the shelf at an ABC store or a convenience store or grocery store, etcetera, does not somehow mean that it's safe. In fact, alcohol is going to be responsible for more deaths, not only in the Commonwealth of Virginia, but nationwide, than all other illegal drugs combined.
Kay Young: So agents continue to work to keep alcohol out of the hands of young people.
Now, the underage buyer program has increased compliance. Agent Huff says, a decade ago, more than half of retailers made that sale during undercover operations. Now, more than 90 percent of retailers consistently refuse to sell to people under 21.
Now, by the way, with proms, graduations coming up, a note for the teens. In Virginia, anyone under 18 convicted of purchasing alcohol will lose their driver's license in addition to fines, community service and possible jail time.
I'm Kay Young, 10 on Your Side.