3 More Arrested in Anti-Alcohol Operation

Young people posing as decoys Thursday night helped the make three arrests at local businesses in a mission to prevent minors from obtaining alcohol, a police said.

Officers worked with the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control in which minors entered 15  establishments with off-sale alcohol licenses and attempted to purchase products with alcohol in them. One clerk at the Novato Fair shopping center sold the products to a minor. Janette Petersen, 45, was issued a citation and released, police said.

Officers continued to monitor people leaving the Safeway store and saw one minor, a 17-year-old boy, leaving with an alcoholic beverage. An investigation revealed that he had stolen the bottle, so he was booked at Marin County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of burglary and an underage person in possession of alcohol.

In the second phase of the operation, minors asked other people outside businesses to make the purchases for them. Out of 15 people contact, one more person was arrested in the "shoulder tap" operation. Mitchell Sharp, 26, was seen purchasing alcohol with the intent to provide it to the decoy outside of the same Safeway store.

Businesses that successfully passed the tests were Hamilton Marketplace Safeway, Paradise Market, Ignacio Wine and Spirits, BevMo!, Target, Quesada Market, CVS Novato Boulevard, Rojas Market, Casa del Palmar, Mike's Liquor, Redwood Shell, Chevron, Old Town Liquor and Rite Aid.