HOPE, Maine — The Knox County Sheriff’s Office charged 22 people Saturday night in connection with an underage drinking party.
The sheriff’s office went to the party after receiving an anonymous complaint, according to a news release from Knox County Chief Deputy Timothy Carroll. The four deputies who went to the home on Fogler Road spoke with four males who said they were watching a hockey game, Carroll said.
Upon further investigation, the deputies discovered there were about 25 more people hiding in the basement of the residence. The deputies found and seized all the alcohol, which reportedly included cases of beer and bottles of hard liquor.
The juveniles’ parents were contacted and the deputies made sure there were sober drivers taking all involved home.
Twenty-two people under the age of 21 were charged for illegal possession of alcohol by a minor. Kyle Koskinen, 19, of Hope was arrested for furnishing a place for minors to consume alcohol. The party was at Koskinen’s parents’ residence.
Koskinen’s parents were out of town at the time of the incident, Carroll said.
Kyle Koskinen later was released on $400 unsecured bail.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office said in its news release that it encourages anyone who may know of such incidents to call the Knox County Regional Dispatch Center to make a report.
“You can remain anonymous. We want everyone to have a fun, but responsible, safe summer,” he stated.
The names of eight people charged who were under 18 were not released. The others charged with possession of alcohol by a minor were: Maxwell Bragg, 18, of Appleton; Joshua Stanclift, 19, of Camden; Malcolm Steele, 18, of Hope; Robin Wilder, 19, of Hope; James Tooley, 19, of Camden; Mia Maddox, 18, of Camden; William Clapp, 18, of Rockport; Benjamin Dufour, 19, of Rockport; Brandon Rich, 19, of Hope; Devon Gordan, 18, of Rockport; Andrew Widdecomb, 20, of Lincolnville; John Vannorsdall, 18, of Camden; and Morgan Farley, 19, of Camden.
Brutal Crimes must be real slow in Knox County for the COPS to bust up a party at a home. Pathetic thing is, these young adults could die for their country in our many WARS. Maybe way too many Knox COPS with nothing to do all night.
Those darn cops enforcing underage drinking laws! Stupid cops! Stupid laws! You know those are the same cops who would have to bag up your dead kid then knock on your door to inform you that one of these “young adults” had hit your kid head-on in a drunken stupor and killed ’em dead. How do you think these “young adults” were going to get home after this party? Fly? Swim? Oh, no all 22 were going to stay the night or call their parents for rides. Right! And I love how people always bring up joining the military in these situations. We have an all volunteer military remember? These two issues don’t go together at all. Go to Augusta and lobby the legislature to lower the legal drinking age if you wish but don’t blame the cops for doing their job.
You have to be 18 to fight in a war and to vote. However you have to be 21 to get drunk enough to want to do either of those things.
Then set up a roadblock. Storming the place is much (re: “upon further investigation”). Sending 4 sheriffs to an anonymous call suggests further investigation had been decided before they even arrived at the scene.
The trust the community has for the Knox County Sheriff’s is shakey following their own behavior with the “tasing Bachelor Party”, and driving around with the groom tied to a flat bed. Alcohol was certainly involved.
Not the sort of behavior that inspires respect or a good example in our community’s youth.
Deputies. Four deputies were sent to investigate. There is only one sheriff for each county. He has several deputies working under him.
Why not four? There was a tip that a party was going on. How many people do you think are at parties? One? Two? Usually, it’s a crowd. Four deputies were sent for two reasons. Safety of the deputies, and officer presence.
“Storming the place”? I hardly think knocking on the door can be considered “storming the place”. If the deputies had “stormed the place”, I doubt the other twenty five kids would be able to hide in the basement first.
Roadblock? How do you know where to set this roadblock up? Which way will they go? Why even let them get behind the wheels of their cars where they could potentially hurt someone? Including themselves?
Four “deputies” knocking on the door? Not one (with even back-up near-by) but 4. Immediately progressed to property search ( searching the basement). That is excessive. They were on private property. “Anonymous tips” make me uncomfortable.
If 4 deputies were truly warranted they could have set up two roadblocks. No more of a use of resources than the 4 searching a [private] home.
Of course officers and kids safety is paramount, but there is excessive zeal, as well. Just because these kids are minors does not mean they have fewer rights than adults. We need to be certain we remember that.
So the sheriff’s department should not show up and act on this tip because of a bachelor party some years ago? Excellent logic. Perhaps they should stop enforcing laws altogether? Maybe stay at the office and just wait for people to come and just turn themselves in. If one of these yahoos had hit you head on their way home you would be the first to criticize them for NOT doing their job. (If you lived.) If a carload of them had gone up an oak tree and gotten killed you would have said the police should have done more. This is prom/graduation season. There will probably be some casualties due to alcohol. These kids were not statistics that night. The police and whoever tipped them are responsible for that. A thank you might be in order. Oh, but they were just doing their job. Let’s please recognize that.
Actually, “I” would not have said any of those things, so thank you for not making that assumption.
I have been disappointed by the judgment of the KCS in the past, and there are aspects to this story, as printed, which I find questionable.
I am concerned about “anonymous tips” warranting property searches. I am concerned about Rights. I am concerned about what constitutes “further investigation”. I am concerned about safety. Often these “busts” send kids running through the woods, which is also a dangerous situation.
I am concerned about your concerns. Kids running through the woods is the most dangerous situation here? Safety is no accident you know! You should run for sheriff! You would get 22 votes! Oops. 8 were underage so only 14 votes plus yours if you can vote so 15!
Don’t be. Concern yourself with your own inclinations. Righteous sanctimony does not guide good choices, model responsibility, or keep anyone safe.
My own inclinations tell me that you are incorrect. Is underage drinking a good choice? Is underage drinking the model of responsibility? Is underage drinking safe? No, no and heck no. Bad choices, no responsibility, and being unsafe. Not things to condone or defend. Don’t see how “righteous sanctimony” gets in here.
These “busts” are not deterring underage drinking. If you think they are you are fooling yourself.
So you give up. I do not. Responsible people do not. Responsible parents do not. Hopefully the police do not. The “bust” in this case didn’t stop underage drinking but it may have saved lives.
No one is “giving up”. These tactics are inefficient and mostly ineffective. Responsible people recognize that. Responsible parents recognize that.
I know! Let’s employ a few drones!
if they werent doing anything wrong they wouldn’t be running..right?
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/04/fourth-teenager-dies-after-graduation-day-car-crash-in-ohio/?test=latestnews
Yes and innocent people could die in car crashes and/or alcohol poisoning; like one of your family members – what is it you just don’t seem to get?
Yes, they could die for their country in war……and also kill themselves or someone else on the road. Do you really believe all of them were going to spend the night, and that no one was going to drive away under the influence??? Thank you! Anonymous tipster
why aren’t the parents introuble?? you mean to tell me 22 kids were caught drinking and not one parent knew where their kids were??? sounds to me like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in knox county
“why aren’t the parents introuble?”
It doesn’t really work that way (eye roll).
“sounds to me like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in knox county”
An ignorant, judgmental conclusion – does not contribute to the community’s concerns of keeping kids safe.
I would take a guess and say that teenage hormones would rage, and yes, probably all of them would stay the night with the hope that they “might get lucky”.
HOPE IS HIP!
Why does this all sound so familiar? Parents not home, son or daughter announces a kegger, juveniles attend in great numbers, they all get caught…and a future story is born to tell the non-hip nerds at school and the all grandchildren. God bless them all.
As I learned first hand, parents (respectable parents) can be at home and these things can still happen.
I’m pretty sure the school had prom that night. But it gets really dangerous when you have 20 or more young people drinking. Its a good thing the police did show up to break it up. Who knows how many pregnancies and possible overdoses that prevented. Maybe this will teach them all a lesson to just wait 3 short years until they can legally drink. They’re not mature enough to understand just how dangerous alcohol can be. And I can bet their parents aren’t very happy either.
I will say once again when i took heat from so many after the Color Daze thing up at UMO, when supposedly there were a couple of 18 and 19 year olds that got in there having already been drunk..IF THEY WANT TO DRINK, they WILL find a place to drink….You may think you are the best parent, and little johnny or little Sally would never lie to you, never tell you they were at a friend’s house studying for their finals and guess what..they are not there, they are instead at this party, drinking with other irresponsible juvenile delinquents thinking they have it all under control and that they know the secret to the world’s problems. They Drink, they have unprotected sex, and they might even do drugs….SO please, stop saying every time we hear a story about a teen that gets in trouble…IT”S THE PARENT”S FAULT. Most of the time, the parent dont even know that their kid is lying through their teeth to them…And contrary to what some of you believe, locking your kid in their room from 12 to 18 is child abuse and they know it. Beating their behinds wont work either, cause when you turn your back they are gonna laugh at you and think they got off easy. We are all in this together. Watch who your kids hang out with. Talk to the other parents before allowing your kids to spend the night somewhere and dont just drop your kid off a the mall, and think that Mall Security is your new Ultra cheap Babysitter….another words…WAKE UP!!!!
Of course they drink, party, and lie about it to their parents. That’s what teenagers do, and most of us have done those things. Short of locking their children up, taking the car keys, and never leaving town, there’s not a lot parents can do.
You can be a good example…you can tell them that it’s wrong and that’s why you don’t do it…
Of course, those things, too. But still, teenagers . . . raging hormones . . . brains still developing . . . lack of experience . . . impulsive and impetuous . . .
We agree again! My son was busted for underage drinking when he was 18 or 19. He was at a friend’s house. He wasn’t arrested but was escorted home by the police (I was quite happy he got a ride in the cruiser). The big thing is, mom drove him straight to the court house the next day to cough up his $350 fine that HE had to pay himself AND commended him for being honest with both the police officers and his parents, but that it was time for him to buck up. What he did was illegal, he knew it, he got caught, and now he had to pay. We never condoned drinking, always knew where our children were (even knew where he was that night…we just didn’t know he and a few buddies had snuck a few beers in the house after the buddy’s parents went to bed). A lesson learned. Thankfully, he is a bit more sensible now and learned a lesson. I’m sure there will be more to come. The parent who say “NEVER” about their children are the ones that scare me.
Careful Legal, that is twice now in one day. People on this post board might start to talk..LOL
Judge Judy’s question to parents? How do you Know when they’re lying? Ya, it’s when their lips move. Good comment, by the way!
Zero torelnce for being young and stupid. You join the military @ 18, can borrow money, get married, have kids, and then die in the sandbox, but you can’t have a beer. Such hypocrisy from the laws we have. You can die for us @ 18 as long as you don’t drink a beer.
I understand with what you are saying about the legal age to enroll versus drinking beer, and it is a law that I agree should be changed to match.
That being said, according to the article at least 8 of these party goers weren’t even 18 which is also telling me that there were 16/17 year olds parting with 19/20 year olds – other crimes such as statutory rape may have been prevented by this party being broken up.
I guess you would you rather read an orbituary that read that he died while driving and intoxicated leaving behind a wife and kid? I’ll bet there are not many parents who lost an underage child due to drinking and driving that the drinking age should be lowered.
Legal drinking age has little affect on teenage drinking. False sense of security.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/04/fourth-teenager-dies-after-graduation-day-car-crash-in-ohio/?test=latestnews
Funny how this never happens in Washington County, huh?! The breaking up of underage drinking parties, I mean!
Dont even get me started on that….but yeah
haha I hear ya. I have no faith in Donnie or the dept anymore! Bet ya never thought I’d say that, did ya??!!
LOL..actually not surprised at all. ALOT of his supporters are seeing for what he is…
Either you are an adult at 18 or you are not. In this country we give young people all of the responsibilities and privilages that come with an arbitrary age, yet, we tell them they are not old enough to drink.
Perhaps if we had a more intelligent dialog with our young people about drinking and drinking responsibly we would not have all the trouble that we have. If we took the forbidden fruit off the tree, put it on the table and just called it fruit it would not be nearly as tempting.
The restrictive drinking laws were ridiculous when they were enacted and they are still. They only serve to push young people into doing the risky, because that’s what young people do.
couldnt have been having too much fun, the guy to girl ratio isnt exactly ideal…
Well, if all the juveniles who are not identified for this article are girls, it wouldn’t be too bad. But that’s probably not the case. When I did this kind of thing as a kid, over 55 years ago, there wouldn’t have been nearly that many youngsters present, and none of them would have been girls anyway. It’s not that we wouldn’t have wanted girls – we sure would have – but girls wouldn’t have had anything to do with the likes of us when we were drinking. Drunk, rowdy, and stupid.
Where can we find good and reliable statistics about the ages of drunk drivers??
People in developed countries would laugh at our laws.
Yes. And many of them would swim shark infested waters to enjoy our freedom and live our lifestyle. Don’t ever forget that. If you don’t think so swim on over to Cuba or Haiti and try it. Not perfect but the best country in the history of the world.
super fun party
Just wanted everyone to know that just because you are not staying at a party doesnt mean that you are automatically driving home drunk. There were way more than 22 people there. Why do you think that some of them didnt get summonses? Because they were our designated sober drivers. Automatically assuming that every teenager is a delinquent is just ignorant. If you werent there, then dont speak as if you knew what was happening. It is possible to be responsible while drinking, contrary to popular belief on this website. Thank you, and please keep your opinions to yourself. I know that my mom is a lot more respectful and responsible than any parent gossiping with comments on this site, and thats the truth
“Automatically assuming that every teenager is a delinquent is just
ignorant. If you werent there, then dont speak as if you knew what was
happening.”
Props
Yes, Barney Fife would be proud….LOL,,,,,,