Father, son, held for hosting teen drinking party

The underage drinking party was one complaint.

Then there were parents out on the lawn, who said they could not contact their daughters, thought to be at the Saturday night party inside the East Goshen Township house.

And then there were the hosts of the party, who allegedly stiffed the police who wanted to see what was happening in the house in the 1600 block of Bow Tree Drive.

After finding what was inside - including several teenagers hiding in a basement crawl space - the Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police Department arrested Raymond Bonnett, 46, and his son Elliott, 18, and charged them with hosting a party at their East Goshen home for 19 underage drinkers on the Saturday night before St. Patrick's Day.

The most-serious charges were not for hosting the party but two counts of "felony interference" with the custody of children.

After more than an hour in which Elliott Bonnett ordered police off the family property and refused to let them enter the house, officers found one juvenile "unconscious and covered in vomit on the basement couch," according to the affidavit of probable cause.

The affidavit gave the following account:

Police responded to an 11:17 p.m. call about an underage drinking party and eventually found the Bonnett son standing at an open rear-deck door, where he began "yelling at police to get out" and "did close and lock the door."

During the encounter, police saw "about 15 juveniles inside the kitchen area, several who were holding beer bottles or plastic cups," who ran to other rooms during the standoff.

The father and son were arrested. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 27 in West Chester.