FORT KENT, Maine — Eight local teenagers have been charged with illegal possession of alcohol in connection with the alleged sale of liquor to the juveniles by a store clerk at the Circle K on Main Street.
The clerk and the business have been cited for allegedly selling liquor to minors, and the clerk also faces a potential misdemeanor criminal offense, according to police, for reportedly allowing another person to use her identification card to buy liquor.
Jessica Plourde, 27, is accused of selling alcohol to two minors on April 9 and to six minors on April 16 while she was on duty as a clerk at the Irving Circle K.
Those charged with illegal possession include teenagers as young as 15 years of age, according to Chief Tom Pelletier of the Fort Kent Police Department.
Plourde is accused of knowingly selling the alcohol to the juveniles. In one case, Plourde allegedly met with a female under the legal age of 21 outside the store and provided the minor with her own driver’s license.
“For everyone else, she had overrode or voided the age transaction. For whatever reason she allowed one of the minors to use her identification to make the purchase,” Pelletier said.
After purchasing the alcohol on April 16, the teens consumed the alcohol at a “large gathering of minors at a Fort Kent residence,” according to the police chief.
Police also charged one of the youths who bought alcohol at the Circle K on April 16, a 17-year-old male who lived at the residence where the gathering took place, with providing a place for minors to consume alcohol.
“The parents were not at home and not aware of this party taking place,” Pelletier said.
A concerned community member tipped off police, who investigated with the “full cooperation of management at Circle K,” according to the chief.
Glen Gagnon, manager of the store, referred media inquiries to the human resources department at the Circle K corporate office. Calls to that office were not returned.
It is unclear whether Plourde is still employed at Circle K.
Pelletier said his department is continuing to investigate and is in discussions with the district attorney’s office concerning the potential charges against Plourde.
The Irving Circle K in Fort Kent was one of 19 northern Aroostook County businesses included in an undercover operation the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office conducted March 5. During that operation, employees at four Fort Kent businesses sold alcohol to an 18-year-old male who failed to produce identification.
The Circle K in Fort Kent was not among the businesses who sold alcohol to a minor in that March 5 operation.
The Fort Kent Police Department works year-round with substance awareness organizations such as Community Voices to educate the public about the danger of teen substance use, according to the police chief.
Pelletier said that, especially with events such as high school proms and graduations just around the corner, he would like the public to be aware that those who provide alcohol to minors or provide a place for minors to consume alcohol are breaking the law and that his department will enforce these laws.
“It’s important this time of year that we remain vigilant,” he said. “We want everybody to be safe, and we are going to be firm on this.”