Southington police arrested 39 teenagers and two adults in connection with underage drinking in two separate roundups over the last month.
On March 28, the night of the high school junior prom, police said they found 10 teenagers, including one as young as 15, in a motel room in the Econolodge, along with bottles, cans and evidence of drinking games.
They were charged with possession, but Gregory Sioch, 39, the man police said provided the motel room, was due in court on Monday on a misdemeanor charge of permitting a minor to possess alcohol.
Less than two weeks after the first incident, on April 9, Stephen Soto, 46, was also arrested after police responded to his house for a loud party and found 29 teenagers, along with evidence of drinking games, bottles and cans.
The teens were between 16 and 18 years old, according to police.
Soto, who was present at the time of the party, claimed he was not aware alcohol was being consumed, according to a post on the police department's Facebook page.
The allegations are no surprise to a Southington High graduate and her mother.
"All the kids are aware of it," said Alexa Mosley, who is now a freshman at Quinnipiac University, "but I think the adults are just really naive."
"We're ready for anything these days. Nothing surprises me anymore. Kids know everything about everything," her mother, Julie Mosley, said.
The public schools have conducted a campaign to discourage underage drinking and one Meriden man thinks that makes sense.
"Definitely has a lot to do with school," said Jamie Sanders. "A lot of it's peer pressure. A lot of it's just trying to be cool. How to crack down on it? Just raise the education."
In addition to trouble with the law, the students involved face penalties at school, including suspension from extracurricular activities.
