A number of Montezuma County liquor- and convenience-store clerks will be facing misdemeanor charges in county court after they allegedly sold alcohol to minors during a sheriff’s office sting operation last month.

Detective Kalvin Boggs, of the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office, said that the sting operation targeted nine stores throughout Montezuma County.

Of those stores, six allegedly sold alcohol to the 20-year-old undercover operative.

Police reports show that the Maverik Country Store, Smitty’s Liquors, the Dawson Lake Store, Dolores Liquors, Ruthie’s Liquors and Log Cabin Liquors all sold alcohol to the minor.

Gary Schmidlin, manager of Smitty’s Liquors, said that it is their store policy to check the I.D. of anybody who appears to be under 35. Schmidlin attributed the underage sale to a new employee who was still in training.

"We left the new employee alone to see if she could handle the load, so we weren’t there at the time of the sting," he said.

"In this instance (the employee) thought that the individual was 35 years old and she didn’t card him. Of course he turned out to be an undercover cop," he said, adding that from what he had heard, the man had gray in his hair and was wearing a baseball cap.

"He was made up to look like he was 35 years old," Schmidlin said.

However, Boggs said Wednesday that the young man looks like a typical man in his early to mid-20s. "He looks like the average 20-year-old — but that in and of itself doesn’t matter," Boggs said. "That might be a defense that an establishment might use, but if the person looks younger than 30, the store should go ahead and card them anyway just because it is the right thing to do."

At the Dawson Lake Store, the clerk allegedly checked the young man’s I.D. — which was marked "Under 21" in bright yellow — but chose to sell to the minor anyway, the police said.

According to the report, the woman looked at the I.D. and then told the young man, "You’re old enough" and sold him the beer.

Don Dorenkamp, manager of the Dawson Lake Store, said the beer was probably sold to the minor because of a "mathematical error."

"I guess she was busy. It was just a mistake," he said.

Dorenkamp, Schmidlin and Debbie Valerio, manager of Dolores Liquors, said that the sheriff’s office waited several days before returning to the store to hand out the court summons.

"What’s really irritating about this whole situation is that they came in the next day to write her the summons.

"I can’t believe that it happened. If you get stopped for a traffic violation you get your ticket right away," Schmidlin said.

Boggs justified the wait, however, saying that it was done so that the sting operations could all be done in one night without the liquor stores calling and warning each other.

"We are just trying to make it fair across the board. We want to give all of the stores a chance to obey the law and do the right thing," he said.

Boggs added that under state statutes, law-enforcement agencies have up to 180 days to file charges after a crime has been committed.

Dorenkamp also questioned the legality of allowing a minor to buy alcohol for the police department.

"Why is the sheriff’s office paying a minor to buy beer for them?" he asked.

The detective said that this particular operative volunteered his services because "he just wanted to help out."

Boggs said that as long as the person is over 18 and is working under the authority of the sheriff’s department there is no problem with them helping out in the sting operations.