Subsequent offenses mean higher penalties. There have been no cases in Augusta that he's aware of, Investigator Berry said, where convenience store employers or employees have been arrested or fined for selling tobacco products to minors. However, in an undercover operation last year, four area convenience store employees sold cigarettes to minors, Investigator Berry said. No cases were brought against the businesses. Employers got a talking-to, he said.
Teens also get cigarette products from area vending machines.
The machines should be supervised, but most aren't, he said. The direct or indirect sale of tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, snuff or pipe tobacco to persons under age 18 is against the law. Ms. McKenna said. That's part of the law we're trying to get changed,'' Ms. McKenna said. More than a third of high school students who try cigarettes develop a daily smoking habit before they graduate, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.