Police: Lemont Residents Charged with Supplying Alcohol to Minors

Two 47-year-old Lemont residents have been charged with supplying alcohol to minors, State College police said Thursday.

Police said Michael Gates and Jacqueline Gates hosted a high school graduation party June 5. Several underage guests between the ages of 16 and 18 years old were given alcohol beverages there, according to a news release.

Misdemeanor charges have been filed against the Gateses, who could face fines of no less than $1,000 for a first offense, police said. Eleven minors have been cited for the purchase, consumption, possession or transportation of alcoholic beverages in connection with the incident, according to the news release.

Police, in the release, noted that State College’s Source Investigation Project is ‘one strategy adopted by the (department) to impact off-campus high-risk and underage drinking as well as furnishing alcohol to minors.

‘The goal of this project is to increase enforcement to create greater risk associated with furnishing alcohol to minors, underage drinking and high-risk drinking,’ it reads.

Earlier this week, on Monday, police responded to a separate incident that may lead to similar alcohol-related charges. Shortly before 4 a.m. that day, three young women — ages 21, 19 and 16 — were spotted lying in the street on the 100 block of Limerock Terrace, near University Drive, police said.

At least one of the women had been consuming a vodka drink, according to a police report. An investigation is ongoing and may prompt police to file furnishing-alcohol-to-minors charges, a lieutenant said.