Montgomery County seeking undercover, underage shoppers to help prevent illegal alcohol sales

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. ( DC News Now ) – Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services (ABS) is hiring people between the ages of 18 and 20 to go undercover in bars, restaurants and liquor stores to try to buy alcohol.

“This is the Compliance Check Program that we do, and specifically when the County pairs up with a police officer and an underage volunteer, to go into the stores to make sure they’re compliant with checking IDs,” ABS Community Outreach Manager Roddy Aguirre said.

Aguirre said they do this program every year because it’s effective in keeping the community safe.

“We issue the license, but we also have the charge to enforce those laws. So, this is a great way for us to be able to use it not just as a way to make sure that the businesses are compliant, but also to educate the businesses in case there’s a violation,” he said.

If an establishment is caught selling alcohol to an underage shopper, it will face several consequences.

“The business itself will get a $1,000 fee for the first offense, and the second offense will be $2,500,” Aguirre said. “For the employee that sells the alcohol to the under 21 minor, they will get a criminal citation.”

Oak Barrel & Vine manager Keith Gildea said his store has several measures in place to ensure they don’t sell to underage customers or anyone using a fake ID.

“We have a lot of scanners behind the registers, so we kind of view the ID, we kind of look at it, match it to an ID to make sure it looks like it’s got all the symbols and everything,” Gildea said. “Then, we scan it in there and usually the scanner will identify if it’s fake or underage, or anything like that. Then, we politely deny the sale if that’s the case.”

ABS said its undercover shoppers are paid $16.70 per hour, and the application for the position can be found online here .

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