MORIAH — Five people were cited for selling alcoholic beverages to minors during a sting operation Saturday night in eastern Essex County.

The Essex County Sheriff’s Department sent a 19-year-old female into 20 stores to try to buy alcoholic beverages.

The clerks who sold her alcohol were charged with misdemeanor first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child and the violation of delivery of an alcoholic beverage to an underage person.

The names of those arrested were not released, pending youthful-offender status, Chief Deputy David Reynolds said Monday.

He said each person was issued an appearance ticket, returnable in local justice courts.

The stores where alcohol was sold to an underage person were: Crown Point Convenience Store; Boyea’s in Moriah; Village Meat Market and Byrd’s Country Store, both in Willsboro; and Keeseville IGA Market.

Stores were checked in Keeseville, Willsboro, Westport, Moriah and Crown Point, Reynolds said.

“This detail was a success, in regards to identifying establishments that sold alcoholic beverages to an underage subject. In total, there were 20 establishments checked, resulting in five establishments that sold alcoholic beverages to an underage person and 15 that did not.”

He said the Sheriff’s Department used a grant obtained by the Essex County BEST Partnership and the Essex County District Attorney’s Office.

The alcohol initiative was conducted in a straightforward manner, he said, with the teenager simply going into each store and taking an alcoholic beverage to the counter for purchase.

E-mail Lohr McKinstry at:

lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com