9 Mundelein business sold booze to minors

Mundelein Police Chief Raymond Rose said he just doesn't understand how it could happen.

Rose, who also serves as co-chair of the Lake County Underage Drinking Prevention Task Force, said nine businesses in Mundelein sold alcohol to minors during a compliance check held in mid-May.

What's worse, he said, is that some of the sellers checked the identification of the teens and sold the alcohol anyway.

"On June 28, all those businesses in Mundelein that failed compliance checks will appear before the board, with some of these getting substantial fines," Rose said. "Hopefully, when this practice of selling alcohol to minors affects their revenue, they will be more diligent about this."

The checks were part of a countywide crackdown on the sale of alcohol to minors through 21 communities throughout Lake County.

Teens entered the establishments and attempted to buy alcohol with identification that showed they were under 21, Rose said.

While a vast majority of the businesses refused to sell alcohol to the minors, some businesses did.

Mundelein led the way with nine establishments out of 44 found in violation of selling alcohol to minors.

In unincorporated areas patrolled by the Lake County sheriff's office, four out of 11 stores that were checked sold alcohol to minors, while Lake Zurich had three out of 35 stores that sold booze to people under the age of 21.

Gurnee, Grayslake, Highland Park, Lake Bluff, Round Lake, Round Lake Park, Vernon Hills and Zion had either a single or two stores that violated alcohol selling laws.

He said the individual seller at each establishment who sold the alcohol received a ticket, and the owner of the establishment is forced to appear before the appropriate village board, where they could receive a fine or a license suspension, Rose said.

"This is definitely an issue," he said. "And we will not stand for it."