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MARCO ISLAND — Despite a recent educational campaign warning convenient store managers and clerks of the laws and dangers related to selling alcohol to minors, two island convenient stores were charged with the offense last week.

Drug Free Collier, a nonprofit coalition working to prevent alcohol and drug abuse in minors, partnered with local law enforcement agencies including the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, Naples Police Department and Marco Island Police Department to curtail the sale of alcohol to minors from Immokalee to Marco Island and throughout Collier County.

Officers from the three agencies, including Officer Jen Lofy of the Marco Island Police Department, hand-delivered notices to 96 stores and spoke with managers reminding them to discourage underage alcohol abuse and caution them regarding the penalties for selling alcoholic beverages to persons under 21 years of age.

About three weeks later, 25 of those stores were caught in an under cover operation selling to minors.

Underage volunteers attempted to buy alcohol from 81 stores around the county. More than one third of the stores did not heed the recent warnings.

“That’s sensational and it’s important. At the same time, we have to applaud the 60 stores which obeyed the law. We need to focus on the good. Maybe next time it will only be 18 stores instead of 25,” said Maria Victoria Delgado, executive director of Drug Free Collier.

Young volunteers teamed up with deputies and police officers in uniform and plain clothes during the sting between 4 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., Aug. 2.

Twenty five employees received notices to appear in court on charges of selling alcohol to minors. One juvenile employee received a civil citation on suspicion of selling alcohol to a minor.

Among the 25 stores, two were on Marco Island. The 7-Eleven on Bald Eagle Drive and the Chevron Station on North Collier Blvd. were caught in the undercover sting.

Marco Island clerks Lucy Kigerah, 29, of Naples and Joel Olvera, 29 of Marco were both arrested in separate incidents Aug. 2. The two were arrested and released on notices to appear in court. The charge is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable up to 60 days in jail.

Lt. Dave Baer of the Marco Island Police Department said this isn’t the department’s first operation, but it is the first time MIPD is partnering with Drug Free Collier on the issue.

It isn’t going to be the last, he said.

“Officer Lofy went out to all the different businesses that sell alcohol ... There is an educational component before the enforcement component. It’s a reminder to businesses to protect themselves, their businesses and the young people,” Baer said.

He added that the department receives complaints about locations people suspect sell to minors. The police department is targeting these locations first, he said.

“It’s a community effort. It’s not just the police,” Baer said, adding that he hopes everyone will participate diminishing underage drinking.

Delgado said more than 50 percent of Collier County children try alcohol by age 12 and 35 percent of them binge drink, or have more than four drinks at a time, in high school.

“We have a problem. Alcohol is the drug of choice here in Collier County among our youth. The brain is not developed until age 25 ... We’re doing our children an injustice,” she said.

The effort to prevent underage alcohol abuse is going to continue and the hospitality industry is as important as the convenience stores, officials said.

“It takes a village, a community, to raise a child. We all have to be on board,” Delgado explained.

Drug Free Collier is a coalition spearheaded by people in the judicial system who work with all community groups including clergy, educators, law enforcement, parents and youth to prevent underage alcohol, marijuana and prescription drug abuse.

If you would like more information about how you can help Drug Free Collier in its mission to prevent and reduce juvenile substance abuse, contact Maria Victoria Delgado 377-0535, e-mail info@drugfreecollier.org or visit the Drug Free Collier Web site drugfreecollier.org.