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published: Friday, March 08, 2013
Teacher arrested as dozens of teens party, drink at her home
GREG JONES | Staff Writer
gregjones@dailycommercial.com
A second-grade teacher at Pine Ridge Elementary School in Clermont faces multiple charges after a small party for her daughter turned into a beer bash involving 40-50 juveniles, including one found passed out and covered with vomit in a bedroom closet, the Lake County Sheriff's Office said.
Antonia Marino, 42, of Minneola, was charged Sunday with having an open house party, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and resisting arrest without violence.
The resisting charge came about because Marino refused to exit her house or allow deputies to come inside for about an hour, an arrest affidavit said. After the standoff, deputies searched the house and found a 15-year-old girl passed out "with vomit all over herself" in the closet of an upstairs bedroom. Emergency Medical Services was called and responders transported her to the hospital.
Deputies were called to Marino's house about 3:30 a.m. by a neighbor who complained about the noise from a party, juveniles drinking alcohol outside the house, and "throwing beer bottles in yards and in driveways up an down the street," the affidavit said. The deputies said no one at the house would answer the door.
When deputies went around to the back of the house, they said they saw Marino on the other side of a sliding-glass door, along with several juveniles and beer bottles in plain sight. Marino refused to open the door, later saying an off-duty police officer had advised her to not open the door or let anyone leave the house when the party was going on, the affidavit said.
Deputies said Marino told them the party was supposed to be for her daughter and only eight to 10 juveniles, but when she came home, there were 40 to 50 kids at the house and she couldn't get them to leave. However, one of the juveniles signed an affidavit saying Marino had never left the home and was present when alcohol was being served to minors, including himself, the affidavit said.
Parents of all the other children were contacted and they arrived to take their kids home, deputies said.
Marino taught at Fruitland Park Elementary in 2003-04 before arriving at Pine Ridge.
Lake County Public Information Officer Chris Patton said there is an ongoing investigation. He said Marino didn't come to work Monday, but she isn't suspended.
"We are investigating the charges from this weekend, and we are working with the sheriff's office and Florida Department of Children and Families," he said. "She wasn't in class today and we still need to talk to her."
