Full Notification

On Saturday, September 19, 2015, members of the Redwood City Police Department, San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, Menlo Park Police Department and the East Palo Alto Police Department conducted a joint operation to curb the illegal sales of tobacco products to minors. The operation is referred to as S.T.A.K.E. (Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement) is a collaborative effort between local law enforcement agencies and the San Mateo County Health Department to stop the sale of tobacco products to minors. The S.T.A.K.E operation utilizes a minor decoy to attempt to purchase tobacco products at local stores. If the merchant asks the decoy for identification, the decoy is required to provide their identification and tell the merchant their correct age to alert the merchant they are selling to a minor. Merchants who sold tobacco products to the decoy were issued a misdemeanor citation for violating Penal Code section 308(a)(1), which prohibits any person, firm, or corporation from selling, giving, or in any way furnishing to a minor, any tobacco product or paraphernalia when that person knows, or should have known, the minor's age given the circumstances.

In Redwood City, 74 merchants were checked for compliance and 7 of the merchants sold tobacco products to the decoy and were issued citations. During the one day operation, 144 merchants were checked for compliance and 18 citations were issued. The compliance checks occurred in Redwood City, North Fair Oaks, Menlo Park and East Palo Alto.

The Redwood City merchants that were cited were:

AM/PM Convenience Store
504 Whipple Avenue
Redwood City, CA
Person Cited: Rafael Rodriguez – 22 year-old, Hayward resident

Chevron Gas Station
710 Woodside Road
Redwood City, CA
Person Cited: Paramsit Malhi – 32 year-old, male Redwood City resident

Woodside Manor Shell Station
582 Woodside Road
Redwood City, CA
Person Cited: Norma Rivera – 21 year-old, female, Redwood City resident

76 Gas Station
975 Woodside Road
Redwood City, CA
Person Cited: Earl Hopgood – 28 year-old, male, East Palo Alto resident

Gold Star Market
615 Woodside Road
Redwood City, CA
Person Cited: Maher A. Zada – 51 year-old, male, San Mateo resident

7-Eleven Store
460 Woodside Road
Redwood City, CA
Person Cited: Sione Latu – 54 year-old, male, Los Banos resident

Super Discount Liquor
850 Brewster Avenue
Redwood City, CA
Person Cited: Manpreet Singh – 21 year-old, male, Redwood City resident

Approved for distribution by Lt. Sean Hart, Redwood City Police Department Investigations Division Commander.