When Michael R. Colton '97 accepted a prestigious internship at the Boston Globe this summer, he didn't expect it to end in a lawyer's office.

Colton is under investigation by the office of Attorney General L. Scott Harshbarger '64 for attempting to purchase alcohol with fake identification as part of his summer project at the newspaper.

Editors assigned the project to Colton and three other underage summer interns, who were instructed to obtain fake IDs from "storefront operations" in order to purchase alcohol, according to Alfred S. Larkin Jr., The Globe's managing editor for administration.

When Colton attempted to purchase beer from Harvard Provision Co., the store owner confiscated his fake ID and contacted authorities. At that point, Colton told the owner he was from The Globe, according to a report in the Boston Tab.

Colton has declined to comment on the matter.

The project was assigned to the summer interns because "they were at the right age" for the investigation, Larkin said in an interview yesterday.

Editors authorized the project without doing comprehensive research on state laws, Larkin said.

"We have a policy that says we don't do anything illegal to get a story," Larkin said. "Approvals were given when people didn't have a full understanding of the consequences."

Larkin said no one person on the paper authorizes an assignment.

"Anytime a newspaper embarks on a project, there are checks and balances," he said. "In this case, the whole project wasn't researched enough before it was started."

Larkin said the idea was conceived by a Globe employee whose teenage daughter obtained a fake ID.

Editors later expanded the assignment, which was initially designed to ascertain how easy it is to gain access to clubs and bars with fake IDs, to include liquor stores, he said.

The interns were instructed not to consume the purchased alcohol, Larkin said.

Both Colton and The Globe are consulting lawyers. So far, neither has been charged by the attorney general's office, Larkin said.

"It's premature to say whether there will be any charges," Larkin said. "I'm still trying to figure out exactly what happened."