Mother Sentenced For Giving 13-Year-Old Daughter Vodka

A Pennsylvania mother has been sentenced to jail after she let her 13-year-old daughter celebrate her birthday by drinking 17 shots of vodka, before fleeing when her daughter passed out and a friend called 911. 

Michelle Edwards, 32, has been sentenced to between 4 1/2 and 23 months in county jail and must complete two years of probation and drug treatment following the incident. 

While in court for her sentencing, the mother was in tears as she told Lehigh County Judge James T. Anthony that she loved and missed her four children.

“I’m a good person,” Edwards told the judge. “This taught me a lesson.”

According to The Morning Call, Edwards pleaded guilty in May to child endangerment, along with the teen’s father, 38-year-old Charles Younger, who was to be sentenced later the same week.

The mother admitted to providing alcohol for her 13-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old girl after taking them to the liquor store on her daughter’s birthday, Jan. 7. The mother stayed with the teens as they drank the alcohol with Younger in their Allentown home.

Police were called to the home around 10:30 p.m. that night for a report of an unconscious 13-year-old girl, reports KDKA. When police and paramedics arrived, the parents were not home.

The girl was rushed by ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital before being flown by helicopter to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Doctors say the teen’s blood-alcohol level was .32 percent, four times the legal limit to drive.

When Edwards pleaded guilty, she told the judge she did not expect her daughter to drink so much of the vodka, adding that she thought she would have “maybe a little bit.” Younger told the judge he fled the home when he heard sirens because he was afraid.

Both parents admitted to the judge they did not seek medical help for their daughter.

According to Senior Deputy District Attorney Anna-Kristie Marks, the state’s child protective services, Pennsylvania Children & Youth Administrators, had been called to investigate the family more than 10 times. She added that Edwards was free on bail following her arrest, but was later sent back to jail because she was using heroin.

“She’s not a parent,” Marks said. “That’s the reality here.”

Anthony told the mother he hopes she is able to overcome her heroin addiction, telling her, “Your kids need you.”

Readers shared their thoughts on the incident on the MommyPage Facebook page.

“Do her parents realize she could of died of alcohol poisoning, shame on them for letting there 13 year old daughter drink so much, even thou she shouldnt of had any at all at that age…..” one user commented.

“This child doesn’t need them!!” another user wrote. “She needs real parents who will love and protect her. DNA does not make you a parent!!!! Jail is not enough for what they deserve!”

Sources: The Morning Call, KDKA, MommyPage/Facebook / Photo credit: Raelene Gutierrez/Flickr