Arrests for underage alcohol sales are at a five-year high in Columbus — more than double every other Ohio city except Athens, home to Ohio University.
Since 2009, such arrests have more than tripled in Columbus and Franklin County, according to data from the Ohio Investigative Unit.
Officials say that's due in part to a boost in enforcement through the Ohio Investigative Unit's use of underage informants to catch sellers in the act at festivals, stores and parties.
The unit — plainclothes police officers who enforce liquor, tobacco and food-stamp laws — is a division of the Ohio Department of Public Safety. The officers often work with local authorities but are not required to do so.
Last year, 71 people were arrested in Columbus and charged with selling alcohol to 17-, 18- or 19-year-old "confidential informants" who were accompanied by the plainclothes officers. That's up from 22 arrests in 2009.
During the same time, arrests in Franklin County went from 29 to 95.
"It's amazing how easy it is to buy alcohol underage," said Columbus Police detective Steven Rosser, who works mostly on alcohol-related cases and has worked with the Ohio Investigative Unit.
"A lot of places only care about the revenue. ... It's an enormous problem," he said.
Columbus' larger population — and therefore higher number of events and places to buy alcohol — explains its higher arrest rate compared with the rest of the state, said Eric Wolf, administrative agent for the Ohio Investigative Unit. A large college-age population, with Ohio State University and other colleges in town, also contributes to Columbus' numbers, he said.
But he couldn't explain the yearly increase in incidents.
Most compliance checks are based on complaints and tips from the general public, Wolf said.
Agents also monitor social media for suspicious activity at parties, concerts and festivals.
"Sometimes I feel bad when we catch people ... they think they're doing me a favor," said a 19-year-old informant from the Columbus area who plans to study criminal justice at Ohio State this fall.
He goes on compliance checks with the Ohio Investigative Unit about twice a month but keeps his job secret from most of his friends.
A plainclothes officer drives the informant to about a dozen gas stations, grocery stores and bars. The two enter — pretending not to know each other — and the informant tries to purchase alcohol.
If he succeeds, he gives the alcohol to agents waiting outside, who then cite the location with a liquor-license violation. Employees involved with the sale are either arrested or summoned to appear in court.
The maximum sentence for selling alcohol to an underage person, a misdemeanor, is 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Agents have arrested more than 250 people in Ohio so far this year — mostly in Columbus, Cincinnati and Athens.
There have been more than 650 liquor-permit citations.
"When I go out, at least
75 percent of places that we hit sell to my informants," Rosser said.
A lot of the teenage informants are children of police officers, he said. He tries different genders and races to see if they yield different results: They usually don't, he said.
The Columbus Police Division has used underage informants for at least 15 years. There are currently about eight, who are "supposed to look youthful," Rosser said. They make $25 per hour.
Ohio Investigative Unit informants make $10 per hour.
Speedway is the top offender in the state, with about 100 employee arrests since 2009. It's also the 11th-largest convenience store chain in the country and the dominant gasoline retailer in Ohio.
Chelsea Auck, 19, of Columbus, was one of four Speedway employees caught at the 3070 Morse Rd. location last month. Auck was fired and summoned to appear in court.
"She had a misjudgment on a busy evening, and now she might go to jail with a hefty fine," Ronald, Auck's father, said. "She didn't sell with malice or intent."
Speedway employees receive extensive training on how to prevent underage sales of alcohol, spokeswoman Stefanie Griffith wrote in an email.
"Violation of our policies includes disciplinary action, up to and including termination," Griffith said. She would not address the number of incidents at the company's stores.
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