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Indiana excise police find 80 minors at Indy bar

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Police arrested 80 minors early Sunday after a raid on an Indianapolis bar found patrons as young as 13.

Officers from the Indiana State Excise Police and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's Nuisance Abatement Unit raided the Early Bird Bar & Grill on the city's northwest side around 1:45 a.m., Cpl. Travis Thickstun said.

Police had gone to the bar to investigate a flyer advertising a 13-year-old girl's birthday party, he said.

They arrested 80 minors for being in a tavern, Thickstun said. More than a dozen also were charged with illegal consumption or possession of alcohol. One person was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor for bringing her 13-year-old sister — not the girl celebrating a birthday.

The juveniles were released to the custody of their parents, Thickstun said.

Excise officers cited the bar for 80 counts of allowing a minor to loiter and one count of altering floor plans without approval, Thickstun said.

Indianapolis police cited the bar and bartender Garcia Martinez, 27, of Indianapolis, for violating three city ordinances: No dance hall permit, allowing minors to loiter and allowing minors to violate curfew, Thickstun said.

The bar doesn't have a published telephone number and management could not be reached for comment. Martinez also does not have a published telephoned number.

Excise Police Superintendent Matt Strittmatter said his agency continue to work with IMPD "and other agencies across the state to curb the access and sale of alcohol to minors.

"Moreover, Excise officers will continue to work with the alcoholic-beverage industry to ensure voluntary compliance with the law. But blatant violations like those reported here will result in immediate enforcement action," Strittmatter said in a prepared statement.

Excise Police will seek to have the bar's alcoholic-beverage permit revoked when the case is reviewed by the Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission, Thickstun said.

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  • Excise
    Only in America is this newsworthy. Any other county it wouldn't even be an issue. Excise police have one goal and one mission in mind. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. They don't care who pays in the end, as long as they get it. Note that after they were done fining the living crap out of the bar, they went a step further and even fined them for altering floor plans without approval? Jeez. A complete waste of tax dollars to keep these leeches employed and allowing them to steal from people for a living. The excise could care less about the well being of the underagers present in the bar. They went in ready to fine. If your business goes under, so be it, they don't care. Just give us the money. Pathetic excuses for human beings. I would never own a bar or drinking establishment in indy as long as the excise force exists
  • Hey Patty
    Take your racist BS to another site, you troll. Funny that you, of limited intelligence, are able to deduce that ANY of the parties involved are anything other than an American citizen. There isn't a single word in this story that would indicate such. I any case, I'd rather keep undocumented citizens and deport backwards douchebags like yourself! Pow Pow!
  • Really?
    Let's not forget that in many other states such as Illinois and Ohio to name two, as long as the minors weren't drinking there would no problem with their presence in a bar. It's just another example of Indiana's backward thinking . Minors can join their parents in a "family room", their parents can be drinking to the point of unconsciousness and that wouldn't be a problem. I don't know if any of those minors were drinking but just being in the bar shouldn't be a cause for arrest.
  • The parents were thinking...
    OMG we've been caught...we will be deported! (They don't care.) Adios.
  • Cite the Parents
    As I watched news reports and then read various accounts of what the Police and Excise Officers found at this bar, I started wondering what the parents of these teens were thinking, and if contributing to the delinquency of minors was not a viable thought for the Prosecutor's Office. What were these parents thinking?

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  1. If a television station wants to improve viewership, get rid of the local blackout. I was born by the brickyard, and have attended 15 or more races. I have children now, I won't attend unless circumstances are perfect. As those with growing families know, they never are. I'm always impressed that upwards of 250,000 people attend the 500. However, as a growing, or, more apt, sprawling city, Indianapolis and its immediate suburbs count almost 2.2 million. Show the race live, let the venue get a kick-back on revenues, and open-wheel racing might have a fighting chance to be relevant again. Just in time for those tax-payer lights to make sense.

  2. John Moore, I too have had the same issue recently. A property next to my house was on the Land Bank and I was interested in purchasing. When I tried to contact Reggie, I got back emails that had nothing to do with what I asked about. Actually my latest response from him was on this past Friday. I had asked about how to buy the property and if it was still available. His response to me was to contact the mayor's office to get the schedule of his appearances. (???) Hopefully the city is able to do something to fix what this guy has done, it would be nice if they would take the properties back and sell them properly so land owners like me and you mother would have a fair chance.

  3. I too work in the industry, with over 25 years of experience and your political spin has probably nothing to do with any rebranding. "Let's dress it up" would have nothing to do with the government "telling us how and what to eat." Give it a political rest. And being a producer for a radio show doesn't mean you've been involved in advertising and branding for 30 years.

  4. Ms. Morris did not understand the ways of the business world, otherwise, like the IMS, she could have petitioned the State Legislature for a handout of State Funds for her charity work. Ms. Morris should consider becoming a state lobbyist for Lemonade Stand Operators.

  5. David Copperfield!

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