Several employees at North Platte businesses have been cited for selling tobacco products to minors.

On July 2, officers from the North Platte Police Department conducted compliance checks throughout the city to ensure employees responsible for the sale of tobacco products were asking for proper identification and refusing to sell to minors.

According to Officer Rodney Brown, the checks are conducted multiple times each year, and are a tool to identify tobacco retail establishments that sell tobacco to underage youth.

Both the United States Food and Drug Administration and Nebraska state law require tobacco vendors to be licensed, and prohibit the sale of tobacco to anyone under the age of 18.

NPPD investigators, in coordination with Community Connections/Tobacco Free Lincoln County, supervised a 17-year-old male juvenile volunteer as he entered 17 local businesses.

Employees at two of the 17 random locations were cited for selling to the juvenile: 29-year-old Misty M. Crouse, Casey’s, 2421 Rodeo Road, and 71-year-old Marilyn M. Kohl, Wicked Fast Cenex, 1020 North Jeffers.

Brown said both were cited for sale of tobacco to minors, a Class III misdemeanor.