Undercover investigation
Clerks charged for selling beer to minor
By Elizabeth Billips Associated Editor

Two gas station clerks are in hot water for selling beer to a minor.

Waynesboro police began plotting an undercover operation earlier this month after spotting a 17- year-old coming out of the Stop- N-Shop on East Sixth Street with a 12-pack in tow.

That teen agreed to work with police, putting three area stores to the test.

According to Police Chief Karl E. Allen, two of them failed.

The teenager was refused on his second trip to Stop-N-Shop, but was able to easily purchase a sixpack of Budweiser at both DJ Petrol and McTeer Food and Fuel.

The two clerks in question, Gitaben DeSal and Rebecca Cox, appeared in municipal court Monday to answer charges of unlawful sale of alcohol to a person under 21.

While DeSal's case was continued until Aug. 13 when she will return with an attorney, Cox entered a guilty plea.

"I made a mistake, and I definitely won't do it again," she told Municipal Court Judge Percy J. Blount.

For that "mistake," she was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and serve 12 months of probation.

Chief Allen says his department will continue to test local store clerks, preferring corrective behavior to criminal charges.

While his first three choices were complaint-based, he says future checks will be random.

"Complaints keep coming in about teenagers buying beer and hanging out, especially in front of the old Mexican restaurant on Liberty Street," he said. "We're trying to prevent incidents and accidents involving underage drinking … so we'll be doing a lot more of this."