(A) Any person who shall sell, give or furnish in any manner any tobacco product, nicotine product or vapor product to any person under 21 years of age, or to purchase or acquire in any manner a tobacco product, nicotine product or vapor product on behalf of any such person shall be guilty of an offense.
(B) Any person who shall aid or assist any person under 21 years of age in purchasing tobacco products or vapor products shall be guilty of an offense.
(C) Any violation of division (A) or (B) above is an offense against the City of Bethany; upon conviction of any such offense, the violator shall be punished as follows:
(1) Not more than $100 for the first offense;
(2) Not more than $200 for the second offense within a two-year period following the first offense;
(3) Not more than $300 for the third or subsequent offense within a two-year period following the first offense;
(4) Not more than $300 for a fourth or subsequent offense within a two-year period following the first offense. In addition to any other penalty, the store's license to sell tobacco products or the store's sales tax permit for a store that is predominantly engaged in the sale of vapor products in which the sale of other products is merely incidental may be suspended for a period not exceeding 60 days;
(5) Any conviction for a violation of a municipal ordinance authorized by the Prevention of Youth Access to Tobacco Act and any compliance checks by a municipal police officer or a county sheriff pursuant to division (E) below shall be reported in writing to the ABLE Commission within 30 days of such conviction or compliance check. Such reports shall be compiled in the manner prescribed by the ABLE Commission; and
(6) For the purpose of determining second or subsequent violations, both the offenses penalized by the ABLE Commission as administrative fines and the offenses penalized by municipalities and towns and reported to the ABLE Commission shall be considered together in such determination.
(D) Proof that the defendant demanded, was shown, and reasonably relied upon proof of age shall be a defense to any action brought pursuant to this section. A person cited for violating this section shall be deemed to have reasonably relied upon proof of age, and such person shall not be found guilty of the violation if such person proves that:
(1) The individual who purchased or received the tobacco product or vapor product presented a driver license or other government-issued photo identification purporting to establish that such individual was 21 years of age or older; or
(2) The person cited for the violation confirmed the validity of the driver license or other government-issued photo identification presented by such individual by performing a transaction scan by means of a transaction scan device.
(E) Provided, that the defense in division (D) shall not relieve from liability any person cited for a violation of this section if the person failed to exercise reasonable diligence to determine whether the physical description and picture appearing on the driver license or other government-issued photo identification was that of the individual who presented it. The availability of the defense described in this division does not affect the availability of any other defense under any other provision of law.
(Prior Code, § 11-407.1) (Ord. 1506, passed 8-3-93; Am. Ord. 1892, passed 6-3-15; Am. Ord. 2028, passed 6-21-22; Am. Ord. 2035, passed 9-20-22) Penalty, see § 10.99
Statutory reference:
See 10A O.S. § 2-8-224; 63 O.S. §§ 1-229.13 and 1-229.20