Police Charge Youth For Hosting Underage Alcohol Party

By Andrew Gorosko

In response to neighborhood complaints about a large nighttime Ridge Road house party, police charged the party’s young host with allowing underage people to illegally possess alcohol on private property, Police Chief Michael Kehoe said this week.

Chief Kehoe said that police received noise complaints late on the night of July 26 concerning a house party being hosted at 16 Ridge Road by Brian A. Poeltl, 17, of that address, while his parents were away. Poeltl was the only person charged in the incident.

More than 30 young people had congregated for a party at which alcohol was being consumed, according to the police chief.

After investigating, police charged Poeltl with allowing underage persons to possess alcohol on private property, Chief Kehoe said.

The violation is a criminal infraction, which carries a $90 fine, which is payable by mail. Such infractions are appealable. The law that police employed in the case is a town ordinance that was approved by the Legislative Council in September 2003. Police have enforced that ordinance a number of times since its passage, the police chief said.

According to a police report about the party, police initially encountered some partygoers’ illegally parked vehicles on nearby Boggs Hill Road.

Police said they found a large crowd of underage people on the property who were consuming alcohol. Police said they seized several unopened cases of beer.

Chief Kehoe said police contacted the parents of the underage youths who were at the party, informing them that they should retrieve their children from the Ridge Road premises.

The Police Department’s use of the town ordinance to enter private property and enforce violations of the town’s underage alcohol possession ordinance enabled police to notify parents of their children’s illegal activity without the need to make multiple arrests, according to Chief Kehoe.

The town’s underage alcohol ordinance, which applies to both public and private property, states that no person under the age of 21 shall be in possession of, or in control of, any container of alcoholic liquor, whether open, unopened, or closed, except when accompanied by, or in the presence of his or her parent, guardian, or spouse, who is at least 21 years old.

The ordinance further provides that no person shall host an event that allows the consumption or dispensing of alcoholic liquor to minors, unless those minors are accompanied by or in the presence of their parent, guardian, or spouse who is at least 21.

In April 2003, the Police Commission had endorsed town approval of such an ordinance to help control local underage drinking.

The ordinance arose after elected officials sought to deal with public safety problems that are posed when parents, who host private parties, allow groups of underage youths to drink alcohol.

The police chief has called the ordinance “another tool in the toolbox [of the police officer] to effectively deal with underage drinking.”