19-year-old ‘blacked out’ in Georgia, cops say. Investigation leads to 5 charged
.jpg "Five people have been charged after an investigation into a 19-year-old who was hospitalized after he became intoxicated, Georgia officials said.")
An investigation into a 19-year-old who was hospitalized after becoming highly intoxicated has led to charges for five people, Georgia officials say.
Glynn County police said they arrested Lauren C. Strother, 56, and Carlton J. Strother, 46, on Monday, April 17 in connection with the hospitalization of Trenton Lehrkamp. Each is charged with maintaining a disorderly house and contributing to the delinquency of dependency of a minor.
Police also filed complaints against two juveniles, according to a news release. The first juvenile is charged with simple battery and criminal trespass. The second juvenile is charged with possession and use of drug related objects.
A 17-year-old boy was also arrested in connection to a separate investigation stemming from the Lehrkamp case, officials said in a news conference with local media outlets shared by WSAV.
The teenager is charged with battery, according to police’s news release.
The charges come after Lehrkamp, 19, was dropped off the evening of Tuesday, March 21 at Southeast Georgia Health Center. He was highly intoxicated from a mixture of controlled substances and alcohol and was in critical condition.
At the time of his hospitalization, reports circulated alleging that Lehrkamp was autistic and had been “force fed” alcohol at a St. Simons residence.
In their news conference, officials said this was untrue information that spread on social media.
Contrary to the reports, Lehrkamp is “a 19-year-old high school graduate” who is not autistic, according to District Attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, Keith Higgins.
On March 17, Lehrkamp went to a residence with high school students between the ages of 14 and 17 where he voluntarily drank alcohol, engaged in an egg fight and sat in a chair to be hosed off, Higgins said. Lehrkamp went back to the same residence on March 21 where he again voluntarily drank alcohol.
“Trenton voluntarily drank alcohol until he blacked out,” Higgins said. “No one drank alcohol down his throat or forced him to drink. No one pushed a funnel down his throat. No one urinated on him.”
Police said their investigation is ongoing.
St. Simons Island is about 75 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida.
