LAKEPORT, Calif. – Local and state officials recently conducted an operation aimed at reducing underage drinking in the city.

The Lakeport Police Department and the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control conducted a decoy “shoulder tap” program on the night of March 1, according to a Friday report.

The Decoy Shoulder Tap Program is an enforcement program that ABC and local law enforcement agencies use to detect and deter shoulder tap activity.

During this program, a minor decoy, under the direct supervision of law enforcement officers, solicits adults outside ABC licensed stores to buy the minor decoy alcohol.

The minor contacted 19 adult individuals at five different locations and solicited those adults to purchase them alcohol, according to the Lakeport Police Department.

Police said three adults were arrested and later released on a citation for purchasing the minor alcohol.

One of the arrests took place in the 2900 block of Lakeshore Boulevard in north Lakeport, and two arrests occurred in the 2600 block of S. Main St., also in Lakeport, police said.

The individuals arrested were Erma Holladay of Lakeport; Luis Bandillo of Hood River, Ore.; and Bartolo Valerio-Garcia of Walnut Creek, according to the report.

The Lakeport Police Department thanked the remaining 16 citizens who were contacted and refused
to purchase the minor decoy alcohol.

This project is part of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control’s Minor decoy/Shoulder Tap Grant Project, funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.