News and Investigations

On Tuesday, April 13, 2021, deputies from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested one person during visits to seven different convenience stores to ensure that retailers are in compliance with the state law which prohibits the selling of alcoholic beverages to anybody under 21-years-of-age. 

Operation Pop-Top, as it is called, utilizes a PCSO Explorer to enter a store and attempt to purchase an alcoholic beverage. The PCSO Explorers program consists of high school students who have an interest in a career in law enforcement.

The Explorer who visited stores on Tuesday is 17-years-old.

The seven stores visited were in the Davenport and Lake Alfred areas.

Rebecca Railey, 30, of Davenport, the on-duty clerk at the 7-Eleven store at 3141 Ronald Reagan Parkway in Davenport was arrested for selling alcohol to the PCSO Explorer. 

The other six stores that were visited were compliant with state law. Those stores are:

Polk City Marathon     6000 SR 557            Lake Alfred
Sunoco                       44009 US 27            Davenport
Chevron                      44039 US 27            Davenport
EZ Foods                    5945 US 27              Davenport
7-Eleven                      6023 US 27              Davenport
7-Eleven                      6205 Lk Wilson Rd   Davenport

“Stores and their employees have an obligation to make sure that alcoholic beverages are not sold to anyone under the age of 21. We do these operations frequently to ensure that these stores are compliant, and most of the time they are.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff