About 10 Syracuse Police officers raided Konrad’s Sports Bar at about 11 p.m. Thursday, resulting in the most successful bar raid sponsored by New York state’s Operation Prevent, said Lt. Shannon Trice.

Officers charged 55 people with possession of a forged or fictitious license, nine people with underage possession of alcohol and three bartenders with selling alcohol to a person under 21, Trice said.

Officers charged John Cadorette and Danielle Pessolano with selling alcohol to a person under 21, according to police reports. Officers charged Sean Hayden, Marissa Warren, Taylor Olsen, Staley Nelson, Emily Woodward, Jordana Prince, Jana Featherman and Laura McClain with both possession of a forged or fictitious license and possession of an alcoholic beverage with intent to consume, according to police reports.

Police recorded the 55 arrests as the largest number of arrests in a Syracuse University-area bar raid that was funded by Operation Prevent, Trice said.

The second-highest number of students arrested during a bar raid is 51, which occurred as a result a Feb. 8, 2003 raid at Konrad’s.

The raid’s high numbers were reported to the State Liquor Authority, Trice said, which could result in fines, loss or suspension of a liquor license or the bar’s closing after a loss of operating privileges, Trice said.

Officers also charged the bar with exceeding its 108-person capacity for having 160 people in the bar.

Operation Prevent is a state-funded program designed to curb underage drinking by cracking down on fake I.D. use. The program was budgeted $18,000 this year, and since October, the program has used $9,000, Trice said.

Trice added that the bars will most likely be raided again before the end of the school year.

Published on April 4, 2004 at 12:00 pm