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Prosecuting some cases involving underage drinking is not always easy for Mason City Prosecutor Robert Peeler.

The longtime court officer hasn't had all that many cases in which parents are caught serving alcohol to minors, but he's had two high-profile ones in the past year.

The latest one could be resolved Thursday, July 17, with a pretrial diversion agreement. It involves former part-time Mason assistant basketball coach Michael Crotty. Crotty was charged in June after photos surfaced of an alleged "beer pong" party at his home last winter.

Officials say he came home and his daughter, a college student, was having a party with her friends, all of whom were younger than 21. Peeler said he does not know where they got the beer, but there is no evidence Crotty provided it.

"The facts from the investigation were that he came home and kids were home from college, they were playing and he played with them for about 10 minutes," Peeler said. "He made sure no one was driving and went to bed."

Crotty has devoted thousands of hours volunteering as a youth sports coach and as a color commentator for Mason High School football and girls' and boys' basketball games broadcast on ICRC-TV. He has resigned his coaching job with the school and said he might spend some time with his daughter at school in Virginia.

Prior to the Crotty case, Peeler prosecuted a Deerfield Twp. couple, Jose Hernandez, 44, and his wife Cinda, 48, last summer, after they hosted a party in their home. A 17-year-old was killed after he left the party when the driver of the vehicle he was riding in crashed into a tree.

The Hernandezes pleaded no contest in November and were sentenced to 180 days in jail in Mason Municipal Court. The judge suspended 120 days of the sentence and ordered the couple to wear electronic monitoring bracelets for 60 days. They also will be on intensive probation for five years, will participate in drug and alcohol monitoring and paid a $750 fine.

Peeler at the time said he had solid evidence that the couple provided the alcohol and he was certain he could secure a conviction, which could have resulted in six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. So why take the plea? Peeler said he'll take a guilty plea, sometimes even if he believes his evidence is air tight, because you can't predict a jury's decision.

Peeler has offered to dismiss Crotty's case if he upholds the conditions on his pretrial diversion deal. He must complete 40 hours of community service, attend a 10-week-long accountability class and pay court costs and a $150 fine.

The difference between the two cases? Peeler said Crotty was a first offender, but there was evidence the Hernandezes had hosted before. Diversion programs aren't available to repeat offenders or if the crime was violent in nature.

Are the punishments in these cases appropriate? According to Andrea Rehkamp, executive director of MADD of Southwest Ohio, they don't hear about many parents being prosecuted, so she doesn't have a benchmark to compare these to.

While it's Peeler's job to seek punishment for those who break the law, he says he has struggled with prosecuting parents and also with kids who are near the legal drinking age and are caught consuming.

He has a son, Scott, who recently served as a Marine in Iraq. When Scott came home on leave and his friends came over, Peeler said it was ironic that these young adults can die for their country but he couldn't offer them a beer.

"It's very frustrating, because it is contradictory," he said. "It's a contradiction that we can ask young people to give their life fighting for us and yet we tell them we would send them to jail if they drink a beer."

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.