LOPATCONG TOWNSHIP [July 17, 2003] - A local cigarette retailer has pleaded guilty to the sale of a tobacco product to a minor under the legal age of 18 and paid a $250 fine. The retailer Mico Petroleum on Route 22 in the Township was cited after selling to a 15-year-old brought to the site by the Warren County Health Department. The Health Department, for the past three years, has conducted tobacco Age of Sale (TASE) Inspections. It has relied on education to promote compliance - until now.

In the most recent round of attempted tobacco buys by teenagers, out of 109 buys attempted, 14 Warren County retailers sold to teens under 18. A written final warning was issued to each of these establishments as first time offenders. Mico Petroleum was issued a court summons as a repeat violator. Last year it had sold a tobacco product to another underage youth brought to the site as part of the TASE program. Educational outreach and intervention was conducted to bring the retailer into compliance. However, they sold again.

Proprietors are put on notice that in the next round of inspections, any establishment selling tobacco products – including cigarettes or chewing tobacco – will be fined $250, for the first violation, $500 for a second violation and $1,000 for the third and each subsequent violation. Also, after a second violation the license to sell tobacco products may be suspended.

According to Interim Health Officer Claude Mitchell, "We have done everything possible to educate about the law and its importance to the well-being of our youth. Any future infractions will result in the full penalty allowed by law. We need to break the chain of addiction."

For more information, please call the Warren County Health Department at 908-689-6693.