Elementary School Teacher Arrested For Serving Minors Alcohol

Clermont, FL – Antonia Marino has been arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of minors and resisting arrest.

The 43-year-old second-grade teacher at Pine Ridge Elementary was taken into custody when Lake County police were called out to her home in response to a noise complaint. Neighbors suspected a party in the area from the extra number of parked cars, and, when authorities arrived, they noticed dozens of teenagers hurling beer bottles up and down the street.

Initially, Marino refused entry of the deputies and claimed she was not responsible for the party. She stated she’d come home to nearly 50 kids, there as guests of her 16-year-old daughter, and had been unsuccessful at getting them to leave.

During the raid of the house, police found a 15-year-old girl passed out in a closet. The teenager was covered in her own vomit and required medical attention, according to CF News.

Marino is accused of providing and serving alcohol to several underage partiers. Teens told police Marino had been the one hosting the party and did not make an effort to inhibit them from drinking. The teenagers were turned over to their parents.

This makes two arrests of educators from Pine Ridge Elementary in the last month. In February Jacqueline Zuniga, 39, who is a teacher’s aide in the school was working with an autistic boy. She became upset when the child hit and pinched her, according to the arrest report.

A fellow teacher’s aide witnessed Zuniga bend the boy’s fingers backward and heard her say, “You hit me. I hit you.”

Zuniga later grabbed the child by the arm and leg and tossed him a few feet away into a wall. The boy landed hard and lay motionless for nearly 30 seconds before getting back up. He had minor injuries as a result. Zuniga was charged with child abuse and has been suspended without pay from her job, reports the Orlando Sentinel.