Four people turned themselves in on Monday, and a fifth today on charges they sold tobacco to a person under the age of 21 during an undercover operation carried out by the Rockmart Police.

Complaints came into the Rockmart Police Department per Chief Randy Turner about students being found within the Polk School District carrying vapes on campuses, and that stores in the Rockmart area might be responsible.

Turner tasked Detective David Gowens, who with the help of Detective Frank Golden and the Northwest Georgia Drug Task Force began a check of 10 convenience stores within the city limits to see if they were allowing underage purchases of tobacco or vape products.

Gowens said five out of the 10 stores were caught in the process.

That ended with charges for Stefanie Ann Burnley, 26, of a Rockmart address; Alpanaben Gaurang Choksy, 61, of a Marietta address; April Victoria Distefano, 50, of a Rockmart address; Fonda Leigh Hall, 49, of a Rockmart address; and Patricia Lynn Reeves, 51, of a Rockmart address.

All five face single misdemeanor counts of possession/sale of tobacco to minors. All five were bonded out for $1,000 a person on the charges.

Gowens said that additional penalties are likely for the store owners who will face reporting of the charges to the State Department of Revenue.

Chief Turner said he believes that those who are making the sales to minors are just as responsible as the students who are being caught on Polk School District property with underage possession of tobacco products – a category under which vapes fall.

“We have to get to a point as a community where we will have zero tolerance on underage vape sales,” Turner said. “We hope this latest action is a message to our local store owners that we will not allow these sales to continue happening without consequences.”

Gowens asked anyone who comes across vapes or tobacco products on their underage children – 21 and over is the rules of the road for tobacco use – they should report where youth purchased them underage to the authorities in that jurisdiction.

Usually, the Department of Revenue conducts these undercover operations but they were unavailable to help the Rockmart Police Department due to a high volume of complaints over vape sales.