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Three arrested for selling alcohol to minors following Potsdam police check on 13 stores, bars

Posted 10/13/18

POTSDAM – Three people were charged with selling alcohol to people under age 21 following a Potsdam Police Department compliance check Friday night.  Officers, with the assistance of an …

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Three arrested for selling alcohol to minors following Potsdam police check on 13 stores, bars

Posted

POTSDAM – Three people were charged with selling alcohol to people under age 21 following a Potsdam Police Department compliance check Friday night. 

Officers, with the assistance of an underage agent of the Police Department, checked 13 businesses in the village.  

Those charged with selling alcohol to an underage agent were:

• Susan E. Michele, 59, while employed at Walgreen’s store on Market Street.

• Debora A. Madsen, 49, while employed at the Sunoco store on Market Street.

• Jodie E. Follmer, 29, while employed at Club 21 on Elm Street.

Other businesses check who turned away the underage agent without selling them alcohol were IGA, Elm Street; Kinney Drugs, Maple Street; Stewart’s Shop, Maple Street; T&R Wines and Liquors, Market Street; Price Chopper, Market Street; Maxfields, Market Street; McDuffs, Market Street; Half Tons, Market Street; Lounge, Market Street; and Market Lanes, Market Street

“The fact that these stores turned away our underage agent is exactly what the Potsdam Police Department was hoping to see,” said police in a prepared statement.  “Drinking by minors can lead to unintentional deaths and injuries to not only themselves, but innocent people.  Additionally, a considerable amount of the violence we see in the village by people under the age of 21 is alcohol related.”  

The timing of this detail comes at a time underage alcohol related incidents in the village are on a rise, police said. 

The incidents range from the minor offenses of noise violations, open containers, and underage possession of alcohol to more serious offenses where the underage subjects could become injured, police said.  “These incidents include: disorderly conducts, assaults, and incidents where the underage person is so highly intoxicated as a result injuries or death could result.  Our ultimate goal with this detail is to attempt to decrease and stop the sale of alcoholic beverages to our youth in the community and diminish these occurrences of minor and serious incidents.”