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Server, manager among arrestees nabbed in underage drinking sting
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An underage drinking sting by Albuquerque police netted 26 arrests, including two minors charged with providing alcohol to other minors.
Among the arrests, according to a Metro Court criminal complaint, were a 20-year-old waitress and a manager at a North Valley restaurant who sold a beer to a 20-year-old working with police.
An 18-year-old with someone else's ID bought beer for an underage operative after approaching her outside a convenience store and offering to sell her marijuana, according to a separate criminal complaint.
The arrests were made Saturday during a sweep of the city by the Albuquerque Police Department, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department and the Special Investigations Division of the state Department of Public Safety.
In all, 11 servers at 10 businesses were arrested and charged with serving minors. Fifteen people were arrested and charged with buying alcohol for a minor, APD spokesman John Walsh said.
The task force visited 129 alcohol-serving locations, Walsh said.
At Casa de Benavidez, police observed waitress Bernadette Chavez, 20, take the ID card of a 20-year-old and hand it to her manager, Paul Benavidez, 50, who approved the sale of a Corona beer, according to court documents.
The ID card stated that the man was 20, a Metro Court criminal complaint says.
Chavez and Benavidez were arrested on charges of giving or selling alcohol to a minor, a fourth-degree felony, and were booked into jail.
Although people under 21 cannot work as bartenders, they can serve alcohol if they work as wait staff at establishments whose primary income is selling food, according to state law.
The other minor-to-minor arrest took place at a Phillips 66 gas station on Eubank Boulevard Northeast.
According to the complaint, police and a 19-year-old operative were working a "shoulder tap" operation in which the teenager asked people to buy her beer. As she worked Saturday, a man approached her and asked her whether she wanted any "weed."
The 19-year-old asked the man, identified as Ivan Popadiuc, 18, to buy her a six-pack, which he did, the complaint states.
After Popadiuc was arrested, police found his ID and the ID of a 23-year-old man in his wallet. Popadiuc told police he found the other ID and used it to buy the beer, according to the complaint.
Walsh said fewer establishments sold to minors during Saturday's sting than in past operations.
A total of 44 law enforcement officers and 14 underage operatives took part in the sweep.

