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State undercover liquor-control agents made lewd propositions to a waitress, then waved a $5 bill at a boisterous woman in a Clearfield club, daring her to expose herself in what they later explained were tactics to fit in with the crowd.
At an American Fork restaurant, agents badgered a waiter into bringing them a round of beers, then ticketed the eatery for serving alcohol without a required meal.
And in a Salt Lake City pub, three agents ordered shots, two purposefully left the table, then they cited the server for delivering too many drinks.
A Salt Lake Tribune analysis of liquor violations shows that taverns, private clubs and restaurants are being hit with more citations and stiffer penalties than at any time since the 2002 Olympics.
The pattern of aggressive tactics - some label them entrapment - prompted one lawmaker to threaten to strip the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (DABC) of its enforcement powers. In fact, 16 lawmakers signed up to co-sponsor the legislation.
'Devious' tactics: The hospitality industry complains that rather than working with establishments to prevent underage drinking, the agents and the DABC are more focused on questionable tactics, uneven enforcement and punitive measures that do little to address core issues.
Maj. Stacy Drakeford, head of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and president of the National Liquor Law Enforcement Association, said it's up to individual states to impose standards governing covert liquor operations. "But from our point of view, in South Carolina, if a [server] refuses service, then they've done their due diligence. We don't use anything that looks like an entrapment technique."
Sam Granato is a Salt Lake restaurateur who also is board chairman of the DABC, whose staff prosecutes liquor violations uncovered in stings. He calls the tactics described above as "devious," but says he has no control over them because the agents are under the supervision of the Department of Public Safety.
It seems he is not alone in feeling powerless. For the past several years, state undercover agents have had uneven oversight and little training.
Only two agents on the 15-member team have been on the liquor squad for more than a year. And although the state of Utah generally sends agents to annual liquor-control workshops conducted nationally, no team members have received that training because of the high rate of turnover.
"Clearly, there needs to be some continuity and preservation of institutional knowledge in any unit," said Lt. Ed Michaud, who is the fourth commander to supervise the team in nearly three years and took over in September 2007. "We are in the process of working to overcome the challenges of this kind of turnover."
As for some of the tactics used by agents, Scott Duncan, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, said changes are in store.
"Something went terribly wrong," said Duncan, who is Michaud's top boss and has been in the job since July 2006. "There are rogue cops out there, but I've been around long enough to know that [agents] do what their supervisors expect them to do. I'm committed to getting the right people in leadership jobs - and I believe I've done that."
Tougher penalties: Keith Squires, deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, blames the low retention rate on a flurry of experienced officers opting to retire, which dates from 2005 when Utah lawmakers ended a policy that allowed state employees to trade eight hours of unused sick leave for a month of post-retirement medical benefits.
As the revolving door of agents turned, the number of the department's stings against restaurants doubled from 2002 to 2007, according to The Tribune's analysis of more than 660 cases prosecuted for liquor violations.
On average, business owners caught in a sting faced two charges, waited 85 days for a hearing, paid $535 in fines and fees, and were suspended from serving alcohol for five days. The number of days that restaurants had their licenses suspended has risen, from 1.7 days to 6.4 days, while suspensions for taverns and private clubs climbed from 4.5 days to 8.7 days.
The tougher penalties are being driven by agents racking up more violations. Since 2002, charges per case have gone up from 1.6 to 2 for all license holders and from 1.5 to 2.4 violations for private clubs.
For years, the DABC board has opted to suspend liquor licenses for grave violations, such as serving alcohol to underage decoys or intoxicated customers, rather than levying fines.
While stressing that preventing underage drinking is important, some tavern and club owners think a license suspension is too severe. "Closing down a business is imposing a penalty that doesn't fit the crime," said Greg Schirf, owner of Wasatch Pub in Park City. "There's no other business that can be shut down for a criminal misdemeanor, forcing it to lay off its employees - all because of a mistake made by a single individual."
Owners can fight liquor citations, but legal fees for a hearing before an administrative law judge are akin to a full-blown court trail, costing businesses $10,000 to $20,000. Owners also can appeal those rulings to the DABC board, but the five commissioners sometimes have shown little patience.
When attorney Pat Shea asked for leniency in December in a case against Frankie D's Bar and Grill in Moab, Commissioner Kathryn Balmforth snapped, "Are we going to waive the penalty just because a lawyer shows up?"
Shea unsuccessfully argued that Frankie D's and the nearby Eddie McStiff's Restaurant were overwhelmed with customers when two other Moab bars learned that a sting operation was afoot and closed early. Frankie D's penalty for serving alcohol to an intoxicated patron was a 10-day suspension.
McStiff's punishment was harsher because of an earlier violation. Its license was suspended for 15 days after undercover agents left the crowded pub with open containers.
Businesses and some legislators are particularly frustrated with open-container citations.
In March, Rep. Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, told commissioners that undercover officers should focus on preventing underage drinking rather than slipping out of eateries in hopes of handing out citations for less-serious offenses.
"We do not have unlimited resources," he said. "These types of stings are only picking off the low-hanging fruit."
'We're not the mafia': Since 2002, establishments have been cited 39 times for open-container violations.
It's not just taverns and clubs being cited. In April, the Tooele bowling alley Star Lanes was fined $800 after agents left with drinks in their hands.
Maj. Jeff Carr, hired six months ago to oversee all state investigators, said he expects all officers to be "fair and consistent" in enforcement tactics. He also said the department is reconsidering open-container stings - especially if there are no indications of problems or complaints.
Business owners also have long complained about the weeks or months it takes the DABC to notify them of violations. The Tribune found the average time it took businesses to be notified of a violation in 2002 was 32 days, climbing last year to 44.
Earlier this year, owners took their complaints to lawmakers, who passed legislation requiring the Department of Public Safety to complete investigations within eight business days and giving the DABC another eight days to notify license holders of violations. The law went into effect on May 5.
For his part, Hog Wallow Pub owner Keith Bessinger wants more of a partnership with state regulators, not just stings and punishments. In February, his pub near Big Cottonwood Canyon was closed for 15 days after a three-hour undercover operation that resulted in a charge of serving alcohol to an intoxicated patron.
"Agents could sit down and discuss what we need to do to address problems rather than just being punitive. We're not the mafia or a prostitution ring."
He points to an undercover operation at his pub conducted by the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office in 2005. The next day a deputy alerted Bessinger to a doorman who had neglected to check IDs. Although a waitress was ticketed for serving an underage decoy, Bessinger said without the call, he would not have known about the doorman, who was subsequently fired.
State officials say the bulk of violations are derived from stings using underage decoys - one of the easiest offenses to avoid. Decoys are not allowed to lie, they must dress for their appropriate age and their driver licenses clearly show their ages. The Tribune's analysis supports those conditions.
With 263 violations, the No. 1 liquor prosecution since 2002 has been sale to a minor.
Other top violations include:
Private clubs admitting nonmembers, 118;
Servers not wearing ID badges, 90;
Sale to intoxicated persons, 66;
And minors on the premises of a private club, 48.
But citing "ticky tacky" prosecutions, Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Clearfield, recently sponsored a bill that would have transferred prosecution powers from the DABC to the Utah Attorney General's Office. Oda withdrew the bill after DABC board Chairman Granato pledged more cooperation with businesses.
In April, for the first time in memory, board members agreed (4-to-1) to impose a fine of $1,200 as penalty for serving alcohol to underage decoys. In the past, such violations brought a five-day suspension. Granato said because servers already are being criminally charged for providing alcohol to minors, he doesn't favor closing down establishments and taking away the livelihood of all employees.
Jim Mosher, who directs alcohol enforcement studies for the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, said the most effective enforcement tools are to target problem bars and use underage decoys to ensure alcohol is kept away from minors.
Mosher said he has been appalled by news accounts of aggressive tactics used by Utah agents. "Utah has led the nation in addressing the impact of alcohol on public health. But in some ways, you have eccentricities that aren't serving you."