LEONARDTOWN, Md. (Dec. 20, 2007)—As part of an ongoing effort to curtail the sales of tobacco products to minors, the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office conducted a sting operation targeted at twenty-one local businesses on Sunday, Dec. 16. Of the 21 establishments visited, only one made an illegal sale.
In Maryland, it is illegal to sell tobacco products, such as cigarettes, to people under the age of eighteen.
Senior Deputy First Class Emory Johnson and Senior Deputy First Class D. Ross utilized an underage confidential informant to conduct the operation.
The business that made a sale of tobacco to the underage informant was the Leonardtown Dash-In. The clerk responsible for the sale was issued a citation for selling a tobacco product to a minor. The business owners are not cited. However, businesses with a large number of offenses are subject to further action from the federal department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).
The establishments that successfully passed the controlled buy operation were: Third Base, Mechanicsville Wa Wa's, DJ's One Stop, Mechanicsville 7-11, Mechanicsville Burchmart, New Market Service Center, Stones Store, Village Liquors, Chaptico Market, Potomac Gardens, Murphy's Town and Country Market, Captain Sam's, Leonardtown Food Lion, Center Liquors, Leonardtown Sunoco, Leonardtown Burchmart, Leonardtown McKay's, Hollywood McKay's, Hollywood Burchmart, and Snellman's Grocery Store.