On December 19th and 20th, 2023, detectives with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Special Investiga-tions Bureau, in conjunction with our City/County Investigations Bureau detectives from Mt. Dora, Eustis, Leesburg, and Clermont Police Department, conducted an undercover operation utilizing an un-derage confidential informant. The confidential informant attempted to purchase an alcoholic beverage or a vape from convenience stores throughout Lake County.
As a result of the operation, detectives visited 71 stores throughout Lake County, 29 of which sold to the underage buyer. Out of those 29 stores, 66% of the time the clerk did not ask for identification to verify the correct age, and 34% of the time the clerk requested identification; however, they still sold the alcoholic beverage to the minor even though their license clearly identified them as underage. Additional-ly, of those 29 sales, 25 individuals were issued a misdemeanor summons to appear in court, three indi-viduals were physically arrested and transported to the Lake County Jail, and one received a warning. Also, of those 29 individuals, one subject was the same individual who sold a vape to an underage con-fidential informant during the last undercover operation in March 2023.
Physically Arrested: Shekhar Kumar, Helal Uddin, and Vishal Patel
