(a) No manufacturer, producer, distributor, wholesaler or retailer of cigarettes or other tobacco products, or any agent, employee or representative of a manufacturer, producer, distributor, wholesaler or retailer of cigarettes or other tobacco products shall do any of the following:
(1) Give, sell or otherwise distribute cigarettes or other tobacco products to any person under eighteen years of age;
(2) Give, sell or distribute cigarettes or other tobacco products in any place that does not have posted in a conspicuous place a sign stating that giving, selling or otherwise distributing cigarettes or other tobacco products to a person under eighteen years of age is prohibited by law.
(3) Give, sell or distribute cigarettes or other tobacco products to any person without first verifying, via a photo identification (for example, driver's license) that the person is eighteen years old or older.
(b) No person shall sell or offer to sell cigarettes or other tobacco products by or from a vending machine except in the following locations:
(1) An area either:
A. Within a factory, business, office or other place not open to the general public; or
B. To which persons under the age of eighteen years are not generally permitted access.
(2) In any other place not identified in subsection (b)(1) hereof, upon all of the following conditions:
A. The vending machine is located within the immediate vicinity, plain view and control of the person who owns or operates the place, or an employee of such person, so that all cigarettes and other tobacco product purchases from the vending machine will be readily observed by the person who owns or operates the place or an employee of such person. For the purpose of this section, a vending machine located in any unmonitored area, including an unmonitored coatroom, restroom, hallway or outer waiting area, shall not be considered located within the immediate vicinity, plain view and control of the person who owns or operates the place, or an employee of such person.
B. The vending machine is inaccessible to the public when the place is closed.
(c) As used in this section, "vending machine" means any mechanical or electronic device designed to do both of the following:
(1) Receive a coin or bill, or token made for that purpose;
(2) In return for the insertion or deposit of a coin, bill or token, automatically dispenses cigarettes or other tobacco products.
(d) Whoever violates this section is guilty of illegal distribution of cigarettes or other tobacco products, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. If the offender has previously been convicted of a violation of this section or Ohio R.C. 2927.02, then illegal distribution of cigarettes or other tobacco products is a misdemeanor of the third degree. A minimum fine shall be fixed by the court as follows:
(1) If a first time offender is an organization as defined in Section 501.11(d), the court shall impose a fine of not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00).
(2) If the offender is an organization and has previously been convicted of a violation of this section or Ohio R.C. 2927.02, then the court shall impose a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00).
(3) If a first time offender is not an organization, the court shall impose a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00).
(4) If an offender is not an organization and has previously been convicted of a violation of this section or Ohio R.C. 2927.02, then the court shall impose a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00).
(Ord. 66-92. Passed 1-28-92.)