Five retailers were charged for selling tobacco to a minor during a second round of the DeKalb Police Department’s tobacco compliance checks.

The Jan. 16 compliance checks found La Salsa Market, 1011 W. Hillcrest Drive; DeKalb Travel Mart, DeKalb Oasis I-88, milepost 93; Bockman’s Amoco, 705 E. Lincoln Highway; DeKalb Mobil, 2400 Sycamore Road; and Sullivan Foods, 1401 S. Fourth St.; in violation of the law by selling tobacco to a minor.

The other 34 of 39 retailers inspected passed.

During the checks, a minor entered the store, asked to purchase cigarettes and displayed an I.D. that showed he or she was underage. If the clerks sold the minor cigarettes, they were issued a mini-complaint with a fine up to $500, according to a Nov. 14 Northern Star article.

With the exception of DeKalb Mobil, the failing retailers passed during the first round, which Lt. Carl Leoni of the DeKalb Police Department said was due to “not so much the business, but the people doing it.”

Leoni couldn’t comment as of press time if there would be any additional charges facing DeKalb Mobil for the second violation.

Satish Bhatia, manager of DeKalb Mobil, said the employee checked the minor’s I.D. but may have read the date of birth wrong.

“We are telling all people working to check the I.D.,” Bhatia said. “I don’t know what went wrong.”

Tobacco retailers were previously given an information kit and spoken with by the DeKalb Police Department on selling tobacco to minors, according to a DeKalb Police Department press release.

“These compliance checks are performed to determine if local tobacco retailers are complying with local minimum-age tobacco laws, which prohibit the sale of tobacco to minors,” according to the release.

All comments are moderated before being published. We will not edit your comments, but we also will not approve those that are abusive, off-topic, attack another poster or contain information we know to be libelous or false.

During peak weekday viewing times, most comments will be reviewed within six hours. For more detailed information, click here.

After submitting your comment, check below for a confirmation message.

• Your name:
• Enter text from image:
  

• Your comment:

* 300-character count. HTML formatting will not display.