Three people were arrested during an 8-hour, Basin-wide shoulder-tap sting operation Friday. A shoulder-tap sting targets adults who purchase alcohol for minors. The minor decoy approaches adult customers as they enter a store and ask them to buy alcohol for them. Customers who do so are immediately arrested by law enforcement. Arrested, cited, and released were Michael Smith, 38, of Indio, at the Circle K in Joshua Tree, at 11:43 p.m.; Melinda Stokes, 22, of Yucca Valley, at 9:41 p.m., and Shamela Choctaw, 35, of Yucca Valley, both at the Super 1 Convenience store in Yucca Valley. Two other men were also arrested on warrants. According to a Sheriff’s Department press release, five businesses in Twentynine Palms immediately confronted the minor decoys and made them leave the property, thus preventing the illegal sale of alcohol from their businesses to minors.
