By Nicole Falco
Following an investigation by the Nassau County Police Department's Juvenile Aid Bureau and Fifth Precinct detectives, Janet Bleier, 50, of 73 Riverdale Road in South Valley Stream, was arrested Monday night and charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Bleier could face up to a year in jail.
"The 15-year-old victim and several of her friends were hanging out at a friend's house [on July 28] when they received a call from the defendant's daughter, who is 16 and one of their friends," said Detective Lt. Kevin Smith, a police spokesman. "She told them, 'My mother is going to drive me over and she said she'd buy us alcohol.'"
According to Smith, Bleier took her daughter, the victim and another 15-year-old to a liquor store on Sunrise Highway at about 4 p.m. Bleier allegedly purchased a bottle of Bicardi Limone rum for the girls, using money they had pooled together, while they waited in the car, and then gave it to them.
Smith said that Bleier dropped the girls off at the friend's house and left. The group of girls, all of whom are 16 or younger, then began drinking. There was no adult supervision in the house at the time, Smith said.
"After a time, [the victim] starts to feel the effects of intoxication - she feels unstable," Smith said. "She goes upstairs to lay down on a bed and soon begins to vomit."
At about the same time, the victim's mother called her daughter's cell phone, Smith said. One of the victim's friends answered it, and told the girl's mother that her daughter was in the bathroom. When the victim didn't return her mother's call, and additional calls went unanswered, the woman headed to the house where the teens were, Smith said.
"The front door was wide open," Smith said. "The mother finds her daughter vomiting. She's in a bad way. She's not only vomiting, she's losing consciousness."
The woman called her husband, who called police. The girl was taken to Mercy Hospital, where she was treated and released at about 2 a.m. the following morning, Smith said.
He said that the next day, the victim's mother found an anonymous note stuck in her front door that allegedly explained what happened the night before and how the girls got the liquor.
Comments about this story? NFalco@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
