By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

An 18-year-old Prior Lake man was the first person to be charged with a Prior Lake social host ordinance violation this week for allegedly supplying beer and liquor to other underage people during a party in the 15900 block of Fremont Avenue on May 23.

Kenon Allan Swartzmiller was charged with furnishing alcohol to persons under the age of 21, minor consumption of alcohol and violating the Prior Lake social host ordinance by the Scott County Attorney’s Office.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police responded to a report of an underage drinking party in the 15900 block of Fremont Avenue at about 12:34 a.m. May 23.

When police arrived, officers were unable to make contact with someone inside the home. A neighbor then approached the officers and stated that the homeowners were out of town and the neighbor believed Swatrzmiller had several underage people drinking inside the home.

The neighbor contacted the homeowners by phone then handed it to the police officer on the scene who spoke with Swartzmiller’s father.

The man’s father told the officer that he and his wife were out of town and his son was home. He also told police there should not be any alcohol at the house, and that his son was not supposed to have anyone over at the house or have a party.

The man’s father then gave police permission to enter the home and provided the officer with a code to open the garage door. He also told police he did not want underage drinking occurring in his house.

Police then opened the garage door and observed several people who appeared to be under the age of 21. The officer also saw beer bottles in the garage.

The officer noticed that the door leading from the garage to the house was locked, so officers waited for Swartzmiller to answer the door and allow police into the house.

Once inside the home, police saw other underage people drinking.

In addition to Swartzmiller, a 19-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman, both of Prior Lake, were cited for minor consumption of alcohol, as were two 18-year-old men from Savage and a 19-year-old Lakeville man.

When asked, Swartzmiller told police he was the host of the party and he knew minors were consuming alcohol. He also told police he supplied a case of beer and a bottle of Jagermeister.

The ordinance

According to the city’s recently passed social host ordinance, it is illegal for any person to host an event or gathering at any home, premise or public or private property where alcoholic beverages are present and the person hosting the gathering knows that underage people may or do consume or possess alcohol or fail to take reasonable steps to prevent the possession or consumption of alcohol by underage people.

The statute also holds a person criminally responsible for violating the ordinance if he or she intentionally aids, advises, hires or otherwise procures another to commit the illegal act.

A person who hosts a gathering does not have to be present at the time of the event to be criminally responsible, but homeowners can only be charged if they knew the event was going to happen or were involved in the planning of the party, Sgt. Greg Zollner said. In this case, there is no indication that the homeowners knew of or planned the party.

Police are not specifically hunting for social host violations, said Lt. Randy Hofstad. Officers respond to calls in the same manner they always have, but as officers investigate the scene, they’re looking for liquor violations. As a part of that investigation, they look to see if the circumstances warrant a social host ordinance violation.

“Now that we have this law as a tool, our intent is to enforce it just as we do any other law,” Hofstad said.

A second case

Charges for Prior Lake’s second social host ordinance violation are expected to be filed with the Scott County Attorney’s Office after a police were called to a noise complaint on June 7.

A 23-year-old Prior Lake man may face charges of furnishing alcohol to minors and a violation of the social host ordinance, Hofstad said.

In this case, a 20-year-old Prior Lake woman, two 19-year-old Lakeville women and a 20-year-old Apple Valley woman all were cited for minor consumption of alcohol.

In this case, when police responded to the noise complaint, the officer saw people outside the home. The host was cooperative with police and allowed officers inside the home, where they located the four people who were cited for minor consumption of alcohol, Hofstad said.

Hofstad said he suspects that more social host violations will occur at times when there are more underage parties during the spring and summer months.

“My experience is people hosting the parties are close to the age of the people attending the parties,” Hofstad said. “I don’t expect that to change as the result of the social host ordinance.

“We respond to calls and address situations as they come up,” Hofstad continued. “We don’t have a social host ordinance patrol.”

 Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at (952) 345-6374 or shogendorf@swpub.com.