Parents Found Guilty Of Hosting Post-Prom Drinking Party
WHEATON, Ill. (STMW) - A couple from west suburban Naperville have been placed on supervision and fined $1,000 for hosting an after-prom party, in which they allowed alcoholic beverages to be consumed by students of Naperville North High School.
Michael R. Bushman and Cathy R. Bushman, both 47, were cited under a city of Naperville ordinance for permitting the consumption of alcohol by minors. They pleaded guilty before Judge Mary E. O'Connor in Naperville's municipal courtroom, on the campus of DuPage County Circuit Court in Wheaton.
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Naperville Assistant City Attorney Michael DiSanto said O'Connor on Thursday accepted the couple's pleas and fined each of them $500. Court records showed they were also placed on an unspecified period of "non-reporting" supervision.
The Bushmans live on the 900 block of Commons Road in Naperville's Century Farms neighborhood. They hosted a party during the late-evening hours of April 28 and the early-morning hours of April 29, following the Naperville North High School prom.
Police shortly before 3 a.m. April 29 were investigating reports of at least two mailboxes being damaged outside houses in the Century Farms area. Their investigation eventually led them to the Bushman home, where they learned post-prom revelers had been drinking alcoholic beverages that had been supplied by the couple.
A total of 26 teenage boys and girls were ticketed that morning for unlawful consumption of alcohol by minors.
Those who were members of the school's graduating Class of 2012 were not barred from participating in commencement ceremonies because the Naperville School District 203 disciplinary code does not apply in events occurring off school grounds. Underclassmen who attended the party likewise did not face suspension.
School officials prior to the prom had formally discouraged students from abusing alcohol or narcotics the night of the dance.
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