Another example of parents going to jail for allowing underage minors to drink alcoholic beverages in their home. The drinking age in the State of Ohio is 21. With prom and and of school celebrations, parents please remember that allowing this behavior is against the law. – David C. Young
The following is from the Columbus Dispatch: Thursday, April 29, 2010 2:55 AM (by Randy Ludlow)
Mom sent to jail for underage drink-fest
Judge doesn’t buy that she didn’t know what was going on
Circleville Municipal Judge Gary Dumm didn’t buy Crystal Card’s excuse that she was sleeping soundly and unaware of the partying downstairs.
Witnesses testified that as many as 30 underage juveniles were drinking heavily at Card’s small Ashville home early on Oct. 11 after the homecoming dance at Teays Valley High School.
After their knocks and yells went unanswered for 30 minutes, officers broke down a door and found Card, looking surprised, on the home’s stairs. Police charged her with two counts of underage alcohol consumption and one count of child endangering for each of the 18 tipsy juveniles they found in her home.
At her trial before the judge last week, Card, 35, denied knowing the party was taking place; her 16-year-old son testified that his mom is a heavy sleeper.
Dumm handed down his guilty verdict against Card yesterday. “It is inconceivable that 18 to 30 teenagers could consume four bottles of vodka, three bottles of wine and three to four cases of beer in a 900-square-foot first floor just below the defendant’s bedroom over a 2- to 21/2-hour period without her knowledge,” the judge wrote.
“She was or had to be aware that the party was in progress in such a small house with all the commotion, noise, vomiting and vibration in process, which the police clearly heard and felt outside the home when they arrived.”
He convicted Card of two counts of permitting underage alcohol consumption and one count of child endangering. The endangering conviction involved a 15-year-old boy who was treated at a hospital for excessive alcohol consumption.
Dumm sentenced Card to serve 20 days of a 270-day jail sentence, fined her $500, placed her on probation for 12 months and ordered her to attend family alcohol counseling. She must perform 24 hours of community service and was forbidden from having anyone younger than 21 at her house overnight.
An upset 19-year-old man who went to her home to retrieve his drunken younger brother testified that Card appeared to be in bed when he first entered the house.
“At that time, a couple of juveniles hid under, around or on her bed,” Dumm wrote in his ruling, summarizing the witness’ testimony.
All of the charges that Card faced were first-degree misdemeanors carrying up to six months in jail.
rludlow@dispatch.com
