Acadia Parish Sheriff’s deputies along with Louisiana Alcohol and Tobacco Agents, teamed up to focus on the selling of vape pens to persons under the legal age.
“Our focus was to assure that businesses around our parish were complying with the law in regards to sales of vape pens. We have received a large amount of complaints from concerned parents as well as school officials that teens have been purchasing these items in our local stores” Sheriff K.P. Gibson said in a news release. “Our focus of this operation was to test stores around the parish to assure that they verify the purchaser’s age via proper identification and that they refuse the sale to underage persons” Gibson stated.
To purchase these products, a person must be 18 years of age. Agents utilized an underage person with proper identification with the goal of having the clerk deny the purchase after checking the identification.
During the two-day operation, 18 stores were checked in various areas of the parish. Clerks at four stores sold vape pens to the underage person. The clerks illegally selling these items were cited for violation of state law. A summons serves as a form of arrest.
One clerk was also cited by Alcohol and Tobacco Agents for unlawful sales of cigarettes to an underage person.
Those cited for illegal sales of vape pens were: Mohmmed Saleh, Queen City 1000 block of Branch Street, Rayne; Jamie Mounier, Express 90, 726 E. 2nd St., Crowley; Parvin Hirani, Chevron 530, North Eastern Crowley; and Chessiray Clark, Fat Boys 324 W. 2nd St., Crowley.
