REID SONS ARE SENT TO JAIL
ANDY REID'S face grew increasingly red.
The Eagles head coach, known for his sternness with players, was obviously not used to being dressed down, at least not in such a public forum.
Tammy and Andy Reid (right) leave court after their sons Garrett (top) and Britt (above) were sentenced to jail terms yesterday in Montgomery County.
Yet there he sat yesterday, alongside his wife, Tammy, in a Montgomery County courtroom with his cheeks aflame as a judge rebuked their parenting after their two eldest sons were nabbed for separate gun-and- drug-related crimes on the same January day.
"I have some real difficulty with the structure in which these two boys live," Common Pleas Judge Steven T. O'Neill said. "What is the supervision?"
True, Garrett Reid, 24, and his brother Britt, 22 - are not kids anymore, but they were still living at home and driving their parents' cars, and therefore, the parents bear some responsibility, O'Neill said.
"You got to take accountability of what goes on in the house," O'Neill said. "This is a family in crisis and we have to address it."
O'Neill described the "culture" of the Reid household, while loving, as "more or less like a drug emporium with the drugs all over the house," with two addicts living there.
Andy and Tammy Reid have three other children - a son, Spencer, 15, and two daughters, Crosby, 19, and Drew Ann, 17.
The lecture capped a stunning day in which Garrett Reid acknowledged a long history of dealing drugs from battered streets of North Philly to the affluent Main Line, where the Reids reside; jail officials revealed that Garrett Reid had smuggled drugs into jail by hiding them inside his rectum and the judge disclosed that Garrett and Britt had used steroids as young athletes.
Just before sentencing, O'Neill dropped a bombshell when he disclosed Garrett's drug-dealing past. A picture of a boastful and self-important drug dealer emerged.
Garrett began selling cocaine in the North Philly " 'hood" in summer 2002, according to a pre-sentencing report prepared by the county's Probation Department.
" 'I liked being the rich kid in that area and having my own high-status life,' " O'Neill quoted Garrett as saying. " 'I could go anywhere in the 'hood. They all knew who I was. I enjoyed it. I liked being a drug dealer.' "
Garrett also said that drugs were everywhere on the Main Line and that selling them there made him feel powerful, according to the report.
" 'These kids were scared of me,' " O'Neill quoted Garrett as saying. " 'I was even selling to their parents . . . I turned everyone on to Oxycontin.' "
When O'Neill finished reading from the report, he looked up and said, "As a judge, that scares the hell out of me."
Garrett explained it was just a "phase" - one that he is far beyond.
"Yeah, I did get a thrill out of it . . . I'm not going to sit here and lie to you," Garrett said yesterday about his drug-dealing days.
"That's not me today. I'm older, wiser," he said, adding that he now sees the "negative" side of a world he once thought of as "glamorous."
"I sold drugs when I didn't have a habit," Garrett said. "Now I have a habit and I don't sell drugs . . . I've seen what [drugs] can do and what it's done to my life. I'm not the same person."
Garrett said he is at the point in his life at which he doesn't "want to die doing drugs."
