 |
Office of the District Attorney P. David Soares Compliance Inspection Finds Scores of Underage Drinkers in Local Bar ALBANY, NY – District Attorney P. David Soares today announced the results of compliance inspections conducted in one Albany bar last night by a multi agency partnership consisting of members from the Office of the Albany County District Attorney, the Albany Police Department, the New York State Police, the State Liquor Authority and the Department of Motor Vehicles. This is the fifth partnership within the past year focusing on underage drinking enforcement in Albany County. Previous inspections included Sadie Klutz and the Stone Crow in July of 2007, Pauly’s Hotel in November of 2007, and Ziggy’s Sport Bar, Dapps and Tommy’s Place in May of 2008. Beginning at 11:30 PM last evening, teams of law enforcement officials conducted a compliance inspection at the Pearl, located on Steuben Place in the City of Albany, for sale of alcohol to minors. It was estimated that there were about 300 patrons inside the Pearl at the time and a conservative estimate of the number of under-aged patrons was approximately 200. Due to the high numbers of underage individuals, processing by law enforcement took a number of hours to ensure the safety of law enforcement and the patrons of the establishment. The operation ran very smoothly and was controlled throughout the entire evening. Preliminary results indicate that there were several sales to minors based on observations made by undercover members of the task force and statements from minors taken at the scene. Albany Police arrested four bartenders and numerous charges were brought against underage drinkers. Underage patrons who had unaltered licenses or valid college ID’s were not issued tickets if they were not directly observed drinking. Names and contact information for those individuals were collected by members of law enforcement. “This operation is another example of state and local law enforcement agencies working together to help combat underage drinking,” said State Liquor Authority Director of Enforcement Daniel Malay. “Combining resources and working together, we will continue our efforts to protect the public health and safety.” Several weeks ago, a concerned citizen contacted the District Attorney with information that the Pearl was soliciting underage patrons from a local college by providing bus transportation directly to the Pearl, where patrons could get in by showing only a valid college ID card. SLA Investigators followed up on the tip last week, found it to be credible and planned a compliance inspection for last night. The individuals issued tickets or arrested will appear in court in October. The Office of the Albany County District Attorney will continue to conduct compliance inspections with our partners in law enforcement to ensure that keeping underage drinkers out of the bars remains a priority throughout Albany County. For further information, please contact Heather Streeter Orth. ###
For further information contact: Heather Streeter Orth
|
|
