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Name:
Sapon-Paz, Yasmine Erlinda
Date of Booking:
08/19/2026
Reason(s) For Booking:
Forgery In Second Degree, Other
Aggravated Identity Fraud
Giving False Name / Address / Dob To Law Officer
Furnish / Purchase / Possess Of Alcohol By Minor
Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]
On 08/19/2026, detectives with the Dalton PD [REDACTED BY AGENCY] conducted compliance checks on businesses that sell alcohol in the Dalton area. This operation consists of the Dalton Police Department monitoring and self-checking local businesses to ensure their compliance with both local and state alcohol laws. We were also assisted by a cooperating source who is currently 18 years of age at the time of these checks.
Prior to beginning the operation, the cooperating source’s Georgia driver license was checked and confirmed to be under the age of twenty-one. A picture was also taken of the license and will be attached to this case file. The cooperating source was then given specific instructions to show their ID and/or give their correct age if they were requested by the bartender or server, and in no way lie or misrepresent in any way their intentions for the purpose of acquiring alcohol.
At approximately 17:20, the cooperating source was briefed on the location and verified to not be in possession of any alcoholic beverages. After this, the cooperating source was provided with money from the Dalton Police Department’s drug unit buy fund.
At approximately 17:25 hours the cooperating source entered the La Hidalguense; 628 5th Ave, Dalton GA. The cooperating source then selected a Bud Light Chelada and proceeded to the register. The clerk checked the confidential source’s license but still sold the source alcohol despite its license showing that it was under 21 years old. The CS then exited the store and brought the alcoholic beverage to me.
Detective Murray then entered the store to identify the suspect and bring me her license so I could issue a citation. After and extended period of time Detective Murray had not returned so I entered the store to check on him. When I did Detective Murray advised that the suspect, Yazmin Erlinda Sapon-Paz, had lied about her name. At this time, I called for a marked patrol unit who spoke Spanish to meet with us here to assist with translating and also take Yazmin to jail if needed.
Detective Murray then advised that he had asked for consent to search Yazmin’s wallet and she gave him consent and inside the wallet he found 4 licenses (2 Georgia, 1 North Carolina, and 1 California) and 3 social security cards. All of these forms of ID were forged and the licenses all had pictures of Yazmin on them with different names and date of birth. One of the licenses had the name that Yazmin first gave Detective Murray, Claudia Mendoza.
The manager who was helping Detective Murray translate also stated that he believed her name was Claudia because this is the name she gave him when he hired her. I asked the manager what documents she used to get the job and he stated that he had not seen her documents yet because she had just started working for him and she told him she would bring them later.
At this time Yazmin was placed in handcuffs and searched by Officer Aldava. Officer Cruz then transported Yazmin to the Whitfield County Jail. While searching her bag Officer Cruz did locate a check stub from Garland Sales which showed payment to Claudia Mendoza, which gave more evidence that Yazmin had been working under this false identity and receiving a paycheck.
I then issued Yazmin a citation on Dalton Police Department e-citation #648162, for the sale of alcohol to a person under 21 years old. This ticket was bound up to Superior Court and only issued to give proof to the city of violation by the business. I then applied for an arrest warrant for Yazmin for:
16-9-2 Forgery 2nd degree
16-9-121.1 Aggravated identity fraud
16-10-25 Giving false name and date of birth
3-3-23 Sales of alcohol to person under 21
Yazmin was then served with this warrant at Whitfield County Jail. The licenses and socials were all entered into evidence along with the check stub from Garland Sales.
[End of Narrative]