Montgomery Police Tobacco Sting Nets One

On Saturday, Montgomery police conducted a sting operation to see if any of its 12 licensed tobacco dealers would sell to an underage customer. Only one of them did, police said.

For this operation, police used a 15-year-old "youth agent" posing as a customer, and attempting to buy tobacco. If the retail shop employees asked for ID, and then refused to sell to someone underage, they passed the test.

Only one of the 12 stores tested—the station at 1700 Orchard Road—failed the test by selling tobacco to the underage agent, police said. The employee in question, Amir Ibrahim, 31, of the 1200 block of Nantucket Road in Aurora, was charged with unlawful sale of tobacco to a minor, police said.

It is illegal to sell tobacco to anyone under 18. The sting was conducted via the state’s Kids Can’t Buy ‘Em Here program, administered by (and with the help of a grant from) the Illinois Liquor Control Commission.  

This is the first round of tobacco compliance checks this year, following a pair of them in 2011. In February, six of the then 13 tobacco license holders were , according to police. A in May found all license holders in compliance, police said.

Under state law, first offenders face a $200 fine, second offenders within one year a $400 fine, and third offenders within one year a $600 fine. State law allows the village of Montgomery to keep half of the fines collected.