WALWORTH — The library director accused of purchasing alcohol for underage drinking parties said she and her family just got caught up in “an unusual circumstance.”
Bobbi Sorrentino, 47, director of the Walworth Memorial Library, was found guilty May 5 in Walworth County Court on six counts of providing alcohol to minors.
Ten counts of providing alcohol to minors were dismissed, and Sorrentino pleaded no contest to the remaining six counts. She will pay $1,488 in fines.
Her attorney, Stephen Kramer, said the dismissal of 10 counts was part of a “reasonable” agreement between the defense and the prosecution that prevented a long trial.
“This has been an issue that I would never like to relive,” Sorrentino wrote in an e-mail to The Janesville Gazette.
Although her case in Walworth County Court has been resolved, 15 counts of providing alcohol to minors are pending in Fontana Municipal Court. Sorrentino’s next appearance is June 26.
Kramer said Sorrentino likely will plead no contest to the municipal counts.
Police originally issued 31 tickets for providing alcohol to minors after two underage drinking parties last May.
Fontana police issued 15 tickets, and the Walworth County Sheriff’s Department issued 16 tickets for underage drinking parties held near Sorrentino’s home May 4 and May 18, respectively.
Police issued one ticket for each underage person at the parties. Most of the juveniles were students at Big Foot High School.
Kramer said the charges against Sorrentino have no reflection on her job performance as library director, and library board president Linda Freeman said the board is pleased with her job performance.
“She does a fine job,” she said.
Sorrentino said she’s learned a lesson from the incidents.
“Maybe that lesson is simply that parents are always learning, always teaching and always trying to make (their) children the best they can be through trial and error,” she wrote in an e-mail. “This whole ordeal was not a mistake or bad choice but rather an average, normal family that got caught up in an unusual circumstance.”
Sorrentino started as a librarian in Walworth in 1999 and became library director in 2003.