Host of underage drinking party in Damascus pleads guilty

Teenage girl found unconscious in basement, passed out in vomit

His wife pleaded guilty to one count of furnishing alcohol to a minor in District Court on Tuesday.

Montgomery County Police who responded to the Aug. 4 party found a teenage girl unconscious lying in her own vomit and another teenager with a blood alcohol level of 0.19, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Amanda Michalski.

‘‘I can honestly say that in the three years I’ve been in the [Alcohol Enforcement] Unit, this is one of the worst parties I’ve seen,” Sgt. Tim Kwaloff said Tuesday during District Court proceedings.

Alison Foley Barberi, 42, of the unit block of Newbury Court was initially charged with 12 counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor — a civil citation. She pleaded guilty to one count on Tuesday and was fined $1,000, which is the maximum penalty. She also was given 48 hours of community service.

‘‘I’m very sorry, very remorseful for the events,” Barberi told District Court Judge J. Michael Conroy.

Her husband, George Barberi, 41, was charged Friday with 10 counts of contributing to a certain condition of a child, 10 counts of allowing underage possession and consumption, one count of reckless endangerment and one count of disorderly house, said Seth Zucker, a spokesman for the State’s Attorney’s Office. He was initially charged with 12 counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor.

George Barberi is scheduled for a hearing in Circuit Court on Oct. 26.

Police responded to the Barberi’s house at 12:30 a.m. Aug. 4 after neighbors called to complain about noise. Officers stopped a car exiting the neighborhood and issued a citation to the passenger, who had alcohol in the car, police said. The driver had not been drinking.

All of the party’s guests — between 15 and 19 years old — had been drinking, police have said.

The Barberis have two sons, aged 16 and 19, according to Alison Barberi’s attorney, Rene Sandler of Rockville-based Sandler Law LLC, who would not say whether they were at the party.

Police spoke to George and Alison Barberi at the house. The Barberis refused to let the police enter the house and closed the door after showing the officers identification, police said.

The Alcohol Enforcement Unit was called and officers from that unit walked around the house and looked into a basement window, police said. They saw a 16-year-old girl, alone in a room, passed out in her own vomit, police said. She did not respond to their pounding on the window, so officers tried again to no avail get the homeowners to open the door.

Officers called Fire and Rescue Services and continued to knock on the door and search outside the house but eventually found a set of keys and let themselves in, police said.

The Barberis, who are the parents of the party’s host, and other partygoers had no idea the girl was in the basement, police said.

The girl was taken unconscious to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, where she was revived. Her blood alcohol level was 0.14, although she was so weak she was unable to fully blow into the device, Michalski said Tuesday, adding that one of the guests had a blood alcohol level of 0.19.

‘‘Mrs. Barberi is accepting responsibility, but what happened is absolutely inexcusable,” she said.