Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Officers say back-to-school means rise in teen parties

By Michelle Alaimo

There's a new season approaching, and it's not fall. According to law enforcement officials, back-to-school time means a surge in unsupervised, and sometimes out-of-control, teenage parties. And Los Gatos and Saratoga are no exception, say law enforcement officials in both communities.

In the end, the parents are left holding the bag, having to pay for what can sometimes be thousands of dollars in damages, according to officer John Campos of the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department.

Campos said the story is all too familiar: A teen's parents go out of town for the weekend, so the teenager decides to tell 10 of his friends that he is throwing a small party while his parents are away. Then those 10 tell another 10 people and so on, Campos said. And before the teen even knows what happened, he has an out-of-control party on his hands and needs help putting an end to it.

"It gets so out of hand, whoever is throwing the party realizes it," Campos said, adding it is not uncommon for party-givers to call police for help in breaking up the party.

Problems arise when the teenager doesn't know all of the people who have come to his house to party. Campos said it is not uncommon for houses to get trashed and items stolen during a party.

"It's real difficult to prosecute some of the kids who are involved because they are unknown to the party-giver," Campos said.

While he adds that there are groups that go from party to party stealing and breaking property, the real danger comes from teenagers drinking. Not only is it illegal for those under 21 to drink alcohol, but adults 18 and over who supply the alcohol could find themselves cited or arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Deputy Ron Breuss of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department Westside Substation said the misdemeanor is a crime that stays on people's records for the rest of their lives. And the homeowner and anyone who supplies alcohol to a minor could find themselves involved in a civil suit if the minor were to get in a drunken-driving accident.

Sheriff's Deputy Ed Laverone said that a few years ago, when responding to an out-of-control party, he almost became a victim of a teenage drunken driver.

Laverone escaped injury after slowing down for pedestrians near a party when a drunken 16-year-old girl, with a car full of passengers, came whizzing by a stop sign, missing him by six inches.

"My kids wouldn't have a daddy if I had not slowed down," Laverone said.

Sometimes the teen is not so lucky.

Breuss said Brandon Silveria, a Los Gatos resident, was in a terrible drunken-driving accident years ago. Breuss said Silveria had been drinking at a party and was driving drunk when he passed out and wrapped his car around a tree on Quito Road in Saratoga. After he awoke from his coma, Silveria was left with slurred speech and permanently impaired memory. To teach other teens about the dangers of drunken driving, the department produced a video in which Silveria himself talks about his experience.

Both the police and sheriff's department officials said the protocol for parties at which drinking is involved is to call the parents and have them pick up their intoxicated children.

Breuss said the most common response by parents is, "I thought he was staying at so-and-so's house."

Teens can be cited for possession and being under the influence, which can lead to a suspended license and substance abuse classes, Breuss said.

Police and sheriff's officials stress that parents need to be aware of how teenage parties can spiral out of control and what their responsibility may be.

"We all trust our children," Breuss said. "But can we trust our children's friends?"

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