16 yo girl drunk

[seacord1]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? GA (but this happened in TN)

For my daughter's sweet 16, my wife and I let her bring 4 of her friends on vacation to Tennessee with us. We own a cabin in Tennessee, and we go there every summer for vacation. We left on June 1st, and were slated to returnJuly 1st.

The 4 girls and their parents sat down with us, and we all went over the rules and regulations, stipulations, etc of the cabin (ie: no going to the lake past 9pm w/o adult supervision, NO TOUCHING MY LIQUOR,etc). All parties involved agrred to the "house rules".

On June 10th, my wife and I went to our room, so the girls can have some kid time. Around 2am one of the gilrs came rushing into our bedroom saying another girl was shaking and vomiting blood. My wife and I rushed the girl to the hospital, called her parents.

The doctor came back and informed us that the girl had alcohol poisoning, and her stomach was severely burnt from overdosing on the alcohol Everclear.

We set down with our daughter and her friends to find out where they got the liquor from, and one of the girls said her and the ill girl had broke the lock on my liquor cabinet.

The police arrived at the hospital, took all of our statements, my wife, the girls, our daughter and mine. One of the officers said that he had to call a detective to meet us at the hospital.

About an hour later, a detective came and questioned me alone. I was handcuffed and escorted back to my cabin. I showed him the liquor cabinet, which we saw the lock was broke. I was informed that at the time, pending investigation, that I was not under arrest, but that could change. We did go back to the hospital afterwards.

The parents of the ill girl wrote a letter stating that they did not want to press charges, and that their daughter has stolen liquor before.

What do I need to do, legally?

 

[cyjeff]

Nothing until you are charged.

I don't think you would be... hell, you had it under lock and key. Other than burying it in the backyard, I don't know what else you could have done.

Why in the heck would you possess everclear? haven't used that madness since college. Does it still say, "Keep away from direct sunlight" on the bottle?

 

[justalayman]

Why in the heck would you possess everclear? haven't used that madness since college. Does it still say, "Keep away from direct sunlight" on the bottle?

It's used for cooking


seacord: at this point, you need to be very cautious what you say. I wouldn't think you would be charged but if the cops come back for another interview, that tends to suggest they may not be thinking the same way. Be cautious with what you say and don't shy away from stopping the interview and getting an attorney.

 

[seacord1]

It's used for cooking


seacord: at this point, you need to be very cautious what you say. I wouldn't think you would be charged but if the cops come back for another interview, that tends to suggest they may not be thinking the same way. Be cautious with what you say and don't shy away from stopping the interview and getting an attorney.

Actually, we use the EVERCLEAR to start the fire pit in the back yard, but cooking with it? Sounds good.

I am so lost right now, my wife and I keep apologizing to the girl's parents, but they feel like it was a lesson learned the hard way for her. There is no animosity between us parents, but I am afraid of going to jail for something I didnt do. And the cops have not yet contacted any of the parents or us again.

 

[LdiJ]

Actually, we use the EVERCLEAR to start the fire pit in the back yard, but cooking with it? Sounds good.

I am so lost right now, my wife and I keep apologizing to the girl's parents, but they feel like it was a lesson learned the hard way for her. There is no animosity between us parents, but I am afraid of going to jail for something I didnt do. And the cops have not yet contacted any of the parents or us again.

I would try to put it out of your mind if at all possible until or unless you hear from the cops again. In all honesty, I doubt that you will hear from them.

 

[swalsh411]

my wife and I keep apologizing to the girl's parents

What? Stop this right now. You allowed this girl to stay with you, and she broke a locked cabinet to steal from you and then you had to take her to the ER. You've done nothing wrong. The girl's parents should be apologizing, offering to pay for the broken lock (they have done this right?), and getting their daughter some help. There are programs for at-risk youths. A year from now there is a good chance this "friend" of your daughter will either have a criminal record, be pregnant, or both if they don't get her help.

 

[Ohiogal]

Where was your daughter and what was she doing when the other two (her friends) broke into the liquor cabinet? And have you grounded her for HER participation?

 

[sandyclaus]

Where was your daughter and what was she doing when the other two (her friends) broke into the liquor cabinet? And have you grounded her for HER participation?

Co-sign!

I seriously can't believe that the daughter literally sat behind while her "friends" went and broke the liquor cabinet open and indulged themselves. At the very least, she has to accept some responsibility for watching her friends drink the Everclear and say nothing to you parents while they did it. While it wouldn't take much, it would definitely take more than ONE drink to get the sick girl that messed up.

The daughter HAD to be complicit, because otherwise, she would have come to you adults to let you know that someone had broken into the liquor cabinet. I know *I* wouldn't just sit there while I watched my friends damage and destroy my house to get to something they had no business getting into - unless I was a party to the party.

 

[LdiJ]

Co-sign!

I seriously can't believe that the daughter literally sat behind while her "friends" went and broke the liquor cabinet open and indulged themselves. At the very least, she has to accept some responsibility for watching her friends drink the Everclear and say nothing to you parents while they did it. While it wouldn't take much, it would definitely take more than ONE drink to get the sick girl that messed up.

The daughter HAD to be complicit, because otherwise, she would have come to you adults to let you know that someone had broken into the liquor cabinet. I know *I* wouldn't just sit there while I watched my friends damage and destroy my house to get to something they had no business getting into - unless I was a party to the party.

Unless of course the daughter and the other friends, who did not participate, were off doing something else or were actually asleep at the time it happened. Don't underestimate the depths that some teenagers will go to if another one of their friends says no.

 

[Ohiogal]

Unless of course the daughter and the other friends, who did not participate, were off doing something else or were actually asleep at the time it happened. Don't underestimate the depths that some teenagers will go to if another one of their friends says no.

Did you read the first question I asked? Should I repeat it:

Where was your daughter and what was she doing when the other two (her friends) broke into the liquor cabinet?

If the daughter was asleep and did not know and was woken up only when her friend was so sick, that is one thing. However, don't underestimate the fact that she very well could have been sitting there watching her friends get drunk or even partaking. My first question gives OP the chance to explain. If daughter was awake, then quite frankly, she should have been grounded for not waking her parents to put a stop to this.
Oh and the excuse that this was her friends and she didn't want to tattle/be less than "cool"/be a snitch -- yeah, sorry -- none of those are good reasons.

 

[stealth2]

OP - Was anyone (except the other set of parents and their daughter) aware that this was an issue with this young lady?

 

[seacord1]

Where was your daughter and what was she doing when the other two (her friends) broke into the liquor cabinet? And have you grounded her for HER participation?

The 2 girls left the bedroom to go to the kitchen to get some food, and the non-sick girl said the ill girl stepped away saying she had to call her parents. The girl then stated she and the ill girl noticed the liquor and decided to mix it with their sodas. My daughter & the other girls were in the room playing games, and had absolutely no idea what the other two girls were doing.

Co-sign!

I seriously can't believe that the daughter literally sat behind while her "friends" went and broke the liquor cabinet open and indulged themselves. At the very least, she has to accept some responsibility for watching her friends drink the Everclear and say nothing to you parents while they did it. While it wouldn't take much, it would definitely take more than ONE drink to get the sick girl that messed up.

The daughter HAD to be complicit, because otherwise, she would have come to you adults to let you know that someone had broken into the liquor cabinet. I know *I* wouldn't just sit there while I watched my friends damage and destroy my house to get to something they had no business getting into - unless I was a party to the party.

Unless of course the daughter and the other friends, who did not participate, were off doing something else or were actually asleep at the time it happened. Don't underestimate the depths that some teenagers will go to if another one of their friends says no.

Did you read the first question I asked? Should I repeat it:

If the daughter was asleep and did not know and was woken up only when her friend was so sick, that is one thing. However, don't underestimate the fact that she very well could have been sitting there watching her friends get drunk or even partaking. My first question gives OP the chance to explain. If daughter was awake, then quite frankly, she should have been grounded for not waking her parents to put a stop to this.
Oh and the excuse that this was her friends and she didn't want to tattle/be less than "cool"/be a snitch -- yeah, sorry -- none of those are good reasons.

OP - Was anyone (except the other set of parents and their daughter) aware that this was an issue with this young lady?

No one else was aware of the girl's past or her reckless ways.

 

[seacord1]

And from what my daughter and the other girls said is: that the 2 girls came back to the bedroom, drinking what all thought was just soda and eating pizza. The girl that became sick was drinking grape soda, and the other girls were drinking Dr. Pepper.

The sick girl admitted she dumped the whole bottle of Everclear into the grape soda bottle to hide the liquor. It wasnt until she went into convulsions that anyone noticed she was sick.


And the only reason I keep apologizing is because, I should have been more responsible and not had ANY LIQUOR at my cabin, especially around teenagers. So, I do take some blame for that.

 

[Ohiogal]

And from what my daughter and the other girls said is: that the 2 girls came back to the bedroom, drinking what all thought was just soda and eating pizza. The girl that became sick was drinking grape soda, and the other girls were drinking Dr. Pepper.

The sick girl admitted she dumped the whole bottle of Everclear into the grape soda bottle to hide the liquor. It wasnt until she went into convulsions that anyone noticed she was sick.


And the only reason I keep apologizing is because, I should have been more responsible and not had ANY LIQUOR at my cabin, especially around teenagers. So, I do take some blame for that.

You aren't to blame for that. The teen stole the liquor after breaking into the locked cabinet. She is the one to blame. Though the girl (the second girl) is also to blame.

 

[stealth2]

And from what my daughter and the other girls said is: that the 2 girls came back to the bedroom, drinking what all thought was just soda and eating pizza. The girl that became sick was drinking grape soda, and the other girls were drinking Dr. Pepper.

The sick girl admitted she dumped the whole bottle of Everclear into the grape soda bottle to hide the liquor. It wasnt until she went into convulsions that anyone noticed she was sick.

And the only reason I keep apologizing is because, I should have been more responsible and not had ANY LIQUOR at my cabin, especially around teenagers. So, I do take some blame for that.

How big was the bottle of Everclear, and how big was the bottle of soda? 'Cause I'm not buying that no one noticed that the grape soda was as diluted as it must have been. You're being played.