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Carusos Hoping for End to Underage Drinking Party Court Saga

A judge rules in June to quash evidence due to an unlawful search of the Robert M. Caruso household. But a motion is filed to reconsider, and the next hearing is Aug. 20.

 

Back in June, a Kane County judge quashed the arrest of a Geneva man charged with allowing an underage drinking party at his home during Homecoming weekend in October 2011.

Now the Kane County State's Attorney's Office has filed a motion to reconsider that ruling, and the next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 20, according to the Kane County 16th Circuit Court website.

Michelle Caruso, the wife of defendant Robert Caruso, said Judge M. Katherine Moran on June 7 upheld a motion to quash evidence, based on an illegal search. That ruling had not been reported on Geneva Patch until now.

“It is hereby ordered defendant Robert M. Caruso’s motion to quash arrest and suppress evidence be and hereby is granted,” Caruso read from court documents.

Notice of a motion to reconsider was filed on July 6, the website indicates. On July 19, Moran presided over a motion and status hearing, where she set the Aug. 20 court date at the Kane County Branch Court on Randall Road in St. Charles.

Michelle Caruso said the family is looking forward to putting the issue behind them, but the past 10 months have been frustrating, because "nobody knows all the facts," she said. "Some of the facts were correct, some were not."

The Carusos' son, Nick, was a linebacker on Geneva's 2011 football team. Michelle said Nick is attending Miami of Ohio on an academic scholarship, majoring in finance. He might try out for the Miami of Ohio football team as a walk-on and hopes to participate in club volleyball and other extracurricular sports, she said.

Charges against an adult for hosting an underage drinking party are rare, and the story has drawn a great deal of local media attention. The citations and charges also sparked some political debate at Geneva City Hall, ultimately resulting in a higher fine for underage drinking under city ordinance.

Michelle Caruso wasn't complaining, but she did admit under questions from this media source that the media spotlight, along with the tangential rumors and gossip of a sometimes-still-small town, haven't been a lot of fun.

She also noted that some Geneva Patch commenters came to the conclusion that the Carusos weren't good parents while others suggested that there weren't consequences—other than the fines—for their son or the other youths involved, and she said that simply was not the case.

"At the end of the day, you are upset, you’re shocked, you're sad, and then you’re ready to move on," she said. "Our good friends know we’re not these horrible parents that we were made out to be. It’s so far from who we are and what we are."

Related Topics: 2011 homecoming, Adult Charged With Hosting Underage Drinking, Judge Katherine Moran, Kane County Circuit Court, Robert Caruso, Teen Drinking Party, Underage Drinking, and Underage Drinking Party

lablover

9:47 am on Friday, July 27, 2012

To the Carusos, I wish your son well at Miami.....kids will be kids and things happen sometimes right under your nose when you are home.....it's happened in my house. So, to those that like to pass judgement quickly.....take a step back and remember the times your kids got away w/something that you didn't know about....that does not make a bad or condoning parent.....just saying.....

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patchedin

2:48 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012

I agree with lablover to the extent that with teens things can happen that you don't know about. However, I also know plenty of parents from my teenage days that had the philosophy that "better to have my kids drinking where I can supervise them, than somewhere else" and unfortunately felt that they could also make that decision in lieu of their teen's friends' parents as well. When I was a teen, I thought those parents were cool. Now, as a parent I am horrified. I know someone who died b/c some other parent chose to make that decision and the parents that had to live with a loss that taught them that you can't always trust the parents of others. To the parents who think they can make decisions for other people's children, ie holding underage drinking parties at their home- shame on you. If the Carusos didn't know, I sympathize. If they knew and especially if they hosted- shame on you and thank God every day that you just got criminal charges instead of the death of another person's child on your conscience.

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