Teachers charged with providing alcohol to minors

LYNN – A Saugus couple, both public school teachers, were each charged last week with providing alcohol to minors after police said officers broke up an August party at the couple’s home and had to take a drunken 16-year-old to the hospital.”I asked (the defendant) why he would allow a party in his home with all of these underage kids and allow them to drink, and stated that he better hope the female upstairs and anyone who left the party doesn’t get hurt,” Saugus Police Sgt. Shawn Flynn wrote in a report.But the couple’s attorney said the charges were “justly unfair” because there was no evidence the couple actually allowed the minors to drink and the couple attended a support group to avoid criminal prosecution.”The defendants have steadfastly maintained that they have never knowingly provided alcohol to or permitted alcohol to be consumed by minors and there is no evidence to the contrary,” defense attorney Francis O’Brien Jr. wrote in a motion to dismiss the charges prior to arraignment. “Further, the defendants have gone far above and beyond what could ever be reasonably expected of a person(s) making a good faith effort to avoid being arraigned on a criminal complaint.”John Penza, 50, and Josephine Penza, 53, of 14 Palmer Ave., Saugus, appeared in Lynn District Court Wednesday where each pleaded not guilty to providing alcohol to a minor, according to court documents.John Penza is a physical education teacher in Everett, while Josephine Penza is a physical education teacher in Medford. Both Everett and Medford superintendents declined to comment.O’Brien said in court documents that both were public school teachers, but he did not respond to calls for comment Thursday or Monday and this could not be officially confirmed. Josephine Penza declined to comment Monday evening.Saugus Police responded at 11:50 p.m. Aug. 18, to a report of a large party at the Palmer Avenue home and found “kids everywhere,” Flynn wrote in a report.Police said officers found a 16-year-old who had vomited and curled up in a bed, and the youth’s medical condition was listed as “unconsciousness” when taken to the hospital, according to court documents.Police reported the couple’s 20-year-old child said the incident was his fault, according to the report, but officers noted the minor was drunk and requested a hearing for the matter, according to court documents.An excerpt from Josephine Penza’s journal (submitted as evidence with the motion to dismiss) said the party was supposed to be a birthday celebration for her son’s 20th birthday and some of his friends were invited. But uninvited people began arriving and one girl arrived and began vomiting, according to the journal excerpt. Police arrived a few minutes later and “the kids panicked.””My home was invaded by uninvited individuals and my backyard family gathering was turned into a nightmare,” Josephine Penza wrote. “I knew that it was my home and property but the situation that rapidly evolved rendered (me) powerless in my own home.”O’Brien argued in court Wednesday and in court filings that there was no probable cause to charge the Penzas, as they did not willingly or knowingly provide alcohol. A clerk magistrate rejected that argument Sept. 16, 2013, however, finding probable cause to charge both Penzas under the social host liability law, according to the application for criminal complaint.That document also, however, notes that the case be held for a “diversion-like resolution if possible.”O’Brien argued neither the clerk magistrate nor Saugus Police recommended anything specific for the couple to do to avoid charges. So O’Brien recommended the Penzas seek advice from people familiar with youth substance abuse, according to court documents. The Penzas were eventually referred to a family support group, which they have attended for seven months, according to court documents.In his motion for dismissal, O’Brien argues a criminal complaint was subsequently issued because the “Saugus Police were n