The arrest prompted new warnings from state police and Mothers Against Drunk Driving about the dangers and consequences of underage drinking parties.
"They were drinking and I'm sorry about that, and I'm sorry about everything that transpired. I'm just a regular person. I don't know how to handle something that big," Ralph Dzenutis, 48, a home improvement contractor, told The Associated Press.
Troopers responded at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday to Dzenutis' home, located near property where the party was held after the Housatonic Valley Regional High School prom.
Police blocked the road and all the youths who drove to the party were forced to leave their cars at the home until the next morning. It took nearly four hours to clear the scene as troopers contacted all the teens' parents to come pick them up, state police Lt. J. Paul Vance said.
"This is a stern warning that this is a law in the state of Connecticut and parents in this day and age cannot allow under-21 people to consume alcohol at their homes," Vance said. He said the youths at the party ranged from 15 to 18 years old.
Dzenutis was charged with felony risk of injury to a minor, which carries up to 10 years in prison, and permitting a minor to illegally possess liquor on private property, an infraction added to state law in October 2006.
Dzenutis said he didn't give permission for the gathering until Friday night, after his son Nicholas, a junior at Housatonic Valley, pleaded to use one of the family's lots for a post-prom camp-out.
"There was only supposed to be 30 kids, but somehow through all the text messages and stuff it got up to a couple hundred," the elder Dzenutis said.
Despite the arrest, Dzenutis said he feels kids should be allowed to drink under adult supervision.
"I would rather that they were doing that stuff where there's an adult and a phone nearby, rather than out in the woods like we all know they do anyways," he said. "I don't want to make my kids be so that they can't learn the hard lessons in life without someone they trust around."
Dzenutis was released on bond and was scheduled to appear in Bantam Superior Court on May 26.
Troopers did not cite any of the teens at the party, but Vance said police still are determining whether further action is needed.
Gretchen Foster, the Housatonic Valley high school principal, declined to comment Monday on whether the students at the party would be disciplined. School policy allows for punishment, including suspensions and expulsions, for actions off school grounds that are "seriously disruptive of the educational process."
Connecticut, like other states, has had some notable teen drinking parties in the past.
Two dozen unnamed teens were cited for underage drinking in February at the Wolcott home of the state's Miss Outstanding Teen, Rachael Ramonas. Ramonas, whose parents were not home at the time, was suspended from pageant-related activities for the rest of her term, which expires in June.
The state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving pushed for the October 2006 law because of an increase in youth drinking parties.
"That law is in place to save lives, because those kids very well could have died," said Lauren Iannucci, youth coordinator of MADD Connecticut, referring to the Cornwall party. "Parents need to be held accountable when kids are drinking in their home."
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