Nine Elyria, Ohio, businesses found selling alcohol to minors

(Watch in the player above: FBI releases 2022 crime data)

ELYRIA, Ohio (WJW) — Officers using minors to try to buy alcohol at several Elyria businesses have cited employees at nine stores for selling alcohol to a minor, according to a news release.

Over the past two months, Elyria police have conducted a series of compliance checks “in response to complaints from residents,” police Lt. Bill Lantz said in a statement Monday.

Employees at nine stores failed compliance checks:

• Ten to Ten, 308 East Broad St.
• Elyria Liqueur, 1063 East Broad St.
• Sunoco Gas Station, 645 Cleveland Street.
• Marathon Gas Station, 503 Huron Street
• Valero, 404 East Avenue.
• Racetrack, 710 Griswold Road
• Convenient Grocery Store, 38535 Chestnut Ridge Road
• East River Service Center, 905 East River St.
• Abbe Drive Thru, Beverage and Wine Store, 514 Abbe Road N

However, employees of 14 other stores managed to:

• Circle K, 402 East Broad Street
• Racetrack, 990 East Broad St.
• Express Petro Gas, 501 Abbe Road N
• Elyria Food Market, 515 Abbe Road N
• D&M Mart, 128 Lake Avenue.
• Go ahead, 559 Midway Blvd.
• Shell Gas Station, 905 Lorain Blvd.
• Motor racing circuit, 895, boulevard Lorain
• Marathon, 803 West River Road North
• Certified Oil, 701 Lowell St.
• Go ahead, 209 East Bridge St.
• Sheetz, 38265 Chestnut Ridge Road
• Dales Market and Delicatessen, 417 Cleveland Street.
• Convenient Grocery Store, 8793 West Ridge Road

Police have notified the Ohio Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement Unit of the businesses whose employees were arrested. The businesses face fines or the revocation or suspension of their alcohol licenses.

The charge of selling alcohol to a minor is a first-degree misdemeanor.