El Cajon

A “sting” headed by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control using minors trying to buy liquor resulted in the arrest of 13 store clerks in El Cajon this week, police said.

Among the clerks arrested was a 16-year-old male and a 17-year-old male, a police spokeswoman said. Both were released to the custody of an adult, she said.

All the clerks arrested received misdemeanor citations and will have to appear in court, the spokeswoman said. No one was taken to jail, she said.

The teen-age volunteers used in the decoy program visited 52 liquor stores in El Cajon, the spokeswoman said. The arrests were made Tuesday and the cases will be turned over to the district attorney and juvenile district attorney’s offices for handling, she said.

El Cajon police, special investigators and reserve officers are involved in the decoy program, along with agents from the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the spokeswoman said. The program has been in effect for about a month and is expected to last through the holidays.