Alcoholic Beverage Control & Camarillo Police issue citations to adults who furnish alcohol to minors
CAMARILLO, California, February 20, 2025 -- Agents from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and the Camarillo Police Department Community Resources Unit (CRU) issued two citations to adults who furnished alcohol to minor decoys. During the operation, two different clerks sold alcohol to the minor decoys. One suspect was a male clerk (33 years old) working at Ralph’s located 674 Las Posas Road in Camarillo. The second suspect was a female clerk (31 years old) working at La Bodega Market located at 2111 Pickwick Drive in Camarillo.
The arrests were the result of a Minor Decoy Operation. In the operation minor decoys, under the direct supervision of law enforcement, entered Camarillo businesses to purchase an alcoholic beverage while being under the age of 21 years old. The minor decoys never lied to the clerks and presented their California driver’s license or California identification card when asked.
Suspects who violate California Business and Professions Code 25658 / Furnishing Alcoholic Beverage to a Minor, face a minimum fine of $250.00 and twenty-four to thirty-two hours of community service for a first violation.
Statistics have shown that young people under the age of twenty-one have a much higher risk of being involved in a motor vehicle crash than older drivers. About twenty-five percent of fatal crashes involve underage drinking according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). ABC would like to remind the public, “We conduct these operations to keep alcohol out of the hands of our youth,” said ABC Director Joseph McCullough. “By preventing underage drinking we can increase the quality of life in our communities and reduce DUIs.”
The CRU will continue to work with ABC Agents and other entities to educate and enforce underage drinking laws. Also, local business establishments who sell alcohol to minors risk losing their alcohol sales license and face possible additional fines. Anyone who knows of adults furnishing alcoholic beverages to minors or establishments who sell alcohol to minors please call the Sheriff’s Office at (805) 654-9511 or email Senior Deputy Ryan Shoden with CRU ryan.shoden@ventura.org. People who call can remain anonymous.
The Law
(b) Except as provided in Section 25667 or 25668, any person under 21 years of age who purchases any alcoholic beverage, or any person under 21 years of age who consumes any alcoholic beverage in any on-sale premises, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(c) Any person who violates subdivision (a) by purchasing any alcoholic beverage for, or furnishing, giving, or giving away any alcoholic beverage to, a person under 21 years of age, and the person under 21 years of age thereafter consumes the alcohol and thereby proximately causes great bodily injury or death to themselves or any other person, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(d) Any on-sale licensee who knowingly permits a person under 21 years of age to consume any alcoholic beverage in the on-sale premises, whether or not the licensee has knowledge that the person is under 21 years of age, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(e) (1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2) or (3), or Section 25667 or 25668, any person who violates this section shall be punished by a fine of two hundred fifty dollars ($250), no part of which shall be suspended, or the person shall be required to perform not less than 24 hours or more than 32 hours of community service during hours when the person is not employed and is not attending school, or a combination of a fine and community service as determined by the court. A second or subsequent violation of subdivision (b), where prosecution of the previous violation was not barred pursuant to Section 25667 or 25668, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500), or the person shall be required to perform not less than 36 hours or more than 48 hours of community service during hours when the person is not employed and is not attending school, or a combination of a fine and community service as determined by the court. It is the intent of the Legislature that the community service requirements prescribed in this section require service at an alcohol or drug treatment program or facility or at a county coroner’s office, if available, in the area where the violation occurred or where the person resides...
Cases of Note
- To obtain a conviction under statute prohibiting the furnishing of alcohol to an underage person, the People need not prove the offender knew the person to whom he or she furnished, sold, or gave an alcoholic beverage was in fact not yet 21 years old.
- For certain types of penal laws, often referred to as public welfare offenses, the Legislature does not intend that any proof of scienter or wrongful intent be necessary for conviction; such offenses generally are based upon the violation of statutes which are purely regulatory in nature and involve widespread injury to the public.
- Statute prohibiting the furnishing of alcohol to an underage person applies to any situation in which an individual purchases alcoholic beverages for an underage person.
- Use of underage decoys to enforce liquor laws prohibiting sale to minors was not “outrageous conduct” giving rise to due process violation barring prosecution, even though officers failed to follow Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control's suggested decoy program guidelines and instead used more mature-appearing persons as decoys; liquor licensees had ready means of protecting themselves from liability by simply asking any purchasers who could possibly be minors to produce bona fide evidence of their age and identity.
- Seller of alcoholic beverages to minors is not unfairly “entrapped” by use of mature-looking decoys, as seller cannot avoid liability by relying solely on appearance of buyer.
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