I Accidently Sold Alcohol to a Minor

My question involves criminal law for the state of: NC

I have been a cashier at a local convient store for about 4 months now, and i just recently turned 21. the other day the police came in under cover and I sold alcohol to their underage undercover. It was an honest mistake. They came in during our busiest time, rush hour, and i was swomped. There was to much going on and i know that i made a mistake. I should have took my time and read his ID more carefully. I did check it but i swear that it said his ID was old enough. Now i am looking at crimnal charges. I have never been in trouble before. not even a speeding ticket, but I am worried that this is goin to go on my record as a felony. I have a copy of the video that shows how busy we were, and that i did check his ID that all i did was miss read it. I also has refrence letters from managment, supervisors, and co-workers. I have always been good about checking ID's and doing my job correctly. Management also has agreed to come to court with me and talk to the judge.
I guess my question is if there is a prayer that i am going to get off on this. It truely was a honest mistake, and if it goes on my record i will lose both my jobs and my student grants, and as a single parent i cant afford to go to school without the grants.

any advice will help!

We need more details.....

Did you check ID? Yes or no?
If so...was it a real id or fake?

The more details, the more help we can offer.....

yea sorry about that, i hit enter and it auto posted, but i edited it. alot of details now.

yes i did check the ID, and i swear it said he was old enough, but when i asked the police officer if it was a fake, or if it said he was underage they wouldnt tell me. all he said was that i didnt need to know who it was.

Here's the thing - neither the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement Agents or the police can use a minor with a fake ID. You said in your first and second post that you checked the ID. I'm sure it was real and had the correct date of birth on it. Reasons, such as you were busy are not a defense.

These "sting operations" are generated when the police or alcohol enforcement agents receive complaints from parents who find their minor children were either served or sold alcohol.

This link will tell you about alcohol compliance checks in North Carolina. The same laws and rules are followed by police officers.

You should seek the advice of an attorney as the owner(s) of the business (the permit holders) will probably not hire one for you as they now are facing an action against their license and face fines and/or suspension.

I agree with Security Consultant, but would like to add that quite often, undercovers are on both sides of the age requirement. They will get older kids (legal) that look extremely young, and younger kids that look older to participate in these stings. The primary reasoning for doing this is to assure that a business and it's employees are not only relying on how a person appears when they are selling/serving, but checking everyone (In Michigan, anyone in a bar MUST have an ID on them to be served. Although it's not often enforced, when I was working the bar everyone got carded regardless of age, appearance and especially if I knew them.)

Not sure how NC works, but talk with an attorney and see if they can negotiate a deal that includes a reduced fine (pretty much unavoidable up here, first offense or not) IF you complete a servers class and get certified. (another side note, because this has become such a problem up here, our licenses are printed in two different ways.. underage is printed on the long edge, with UNDERAGE written on it, and once you reach 21, they are printed on the wide edge like a normal license. This makes it much easier as long as you ask to see the ID.) I'm really surprised that more states haven't taken up this practice.

mamabear - I think you will soon see the day where all states will go to the highly visible marking of under 18 and 21. North Carolina does this.

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Quoting Julz

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My question involves criminal law for the state of: NC

I have been a cashier at a local convient store for about 4 months now, and i just recently turned 21. the other day the police came in under cover and I sold alcohol to their underage undercover. It was an honest mistake. They came in during our busiest time, rush hour, and i was swomped. There was to much going on and i know that i made a mistake. I should have took my time and read his ID more carefully. I did check it but i swear that it said his ID was old enough. Now i am looking at crimnal charges. I have never been in trouble before. not even a speeding ticket, but I am worried that this is goin to go on my record as a felony. I have a copy of the video that shows how busy we were, and that i did check his ID that all i did was miss read it. I also has refrence letters from managment, supervisors, and co-workers. I have always been good about checking ID's and doing my job correctly. Management also has agreed to come to court with me and talk to the judge.
I guess my question is if there is a prayer that i am going to get off on this. It truely was a honest mistake, and if it goes on my record i will lose both my jobs and my student grants, and as a single parent i cant afford to go to school without the grants.

any advice will help!

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Where you arrested for it? I thought selling to minors was only an infraction and not a felony. When I was 15 and in high school I always used to go to this store to buy cigarettes. Me and my underage high school friends went to that place to buy cigarettes for years and the owner never got busted. The owner would just ask how old we were and we'd just make up something like 19 years old and the seller didn't even ask for our ID's.

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Quoting xbox

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Where you arrested for it? I thought selling to minors was only an infraction and not a felony. When I was 15 and in high school I always used to go to this store to buy cigarettes. Me and my underage high school friends went to that place to buy cigarettes for years and the owner never got busted. The owner would just ask how old we were and we'd just make up something like 19 years old and the seller didn't even ask for our ID's.

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I don't know what to do with this...

You are saying because you got away with it that it isn't that big a deal?

I assure you that the fine amounts are very prohibitive.

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Quoting Security Consultant

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mamabear - I think you will soon see the day where all states will go to the highly visible marking of under 18 and 21. North Carolina does this.

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Thats how Michigan does it, up until the age of 21. It makes it really easy to tell if they are legal to drink or not (unless it's a fake ID, OR their 21st b'day). Most licenses for those going from 20-21 are mailed to get here on the first business day after their 21st b'day.

[QUOTE=Julz;445795]

It was an honest mistake. They came in during our busiest time, rush hour, and i was swomped. There was to much going on and i know that i made a mistake. I should have took my time and read his ID more carefully. I did check it but i swear that it said his ID was old enough.

Tough break kid. However, if the video tape shows that you did in fact check it and that it was during a pretty busy time of the day than you've got some mitigating factors in your favor. Without knowing what county your in, I can't say how the DA's office is going to treat this matter. The crimes that they choose to prosecute vary depending on the quirks of the DA overseeing misdemeanor prosecution. All that said, get an attorney on the matter, don't go it alone. Your attorney might be able to get you some sort of pretrial diversion so that the charges ultimately get dismissed. If the prosecution won't budge then you ask the PJC for a PJC. If the judge denies the PJC appeal it to Superior Court.

Thanks for all the help, if i could afford to get a lawyer i would.

It happens,I almost let a kid slide b.c I forgot the date. I only check the year and month,I scanned the beer too and went to grab the money,then it clicked hey what is today's date. Plead not guilty at 1st,you be able to get a legal aide. Like the op said,even if you can't get a legal aide,ask about any diversion programs.

good luck

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Quoting Julz

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Thanks for all the help, if i could afford to get a lawyer i would.

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Can you afford to be turned down for future, better employment because you can't pass a background check?

Unfortunately, no matter how busy it is....you have the obligation to check ID and check it carefully. Look for the marks that show it is a real ID. Look at the picture, look at the persons face, make sure they match. Read the date. No matter how busy, it takes 5 seconds to do that....

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Quoting Julz

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Thanks for all the help, if i could afford to get a lawyer i would.

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They'll have a public appointment system in place so that you can get legal representation if you cannot afford it. Not every county in North Carolina has a public defender system but they all have public appointment systems in place for persons who cannot afford representation. Thus, may you get a high dollar criminal defense attorney for free. ;)