Bainbridge Public Safety Investigation Uncovers Illegal Tobacco Sales to Minors

• The legal minimum age to purchase tobacco products in Georgia is 21 years.
• This is not the first time Bainbridge Public Safety has launched an undercover investigation to stop the illegal sale of tobacco to minors.
• Watch the story to find out what police plan to do next.

TRANSCRIPT OF THE MISSION:

Tobacco products are flying off the shelves and ending up in the hands of children and teenagers in Decatur County.

A reporter from WTXL looked into the undercover operation that sheds light on

Vapes end up in the hands of minors.

In early August, Bainbridge Public Safety Investigator Joshua Glover began investigating smoke shops in the Bainbridge area after parents complained that they had caught their children with flavored tobacco products.

For those who remember my coverage of the last undercover operation, titled “Darth Vapor,” in the summer of 2023, this story will be familiar.

Despite the arrests and reports to the Georgia Department of Revenue last year… Glover says some store employees still haven’t learned their lesson.

In the most recent campaign, no ID checks were carried out in three out of five stores tested.

Glover highlights one of the ways in which increasing numbers of minors are obtaining tobacco products.

“[There’s] “There have been complaints from teachers who have found them on children at school. And then our officers go out on calls and find young people with these e-cigarettes,” said Joshua Glover, an investigator with Bainbridge Public Safety.

As of July 2020, the legal minimum age to purchase tobacco products in Georgia is 21.

And as for the companies that were caught selling to people without checking their IDs.

Glover said the state could either impose a fine or revoke the business license.

Locally, Glover said the department will work with the City Council to try to enforce new city ordinances that would revoke a business’s license if it is caught selling to minors.