Parents Plead Innocent to Drug Charges

Bobby Dale Young and his wife Judith, the Tustin couple arrested on drug charges after being turned in to police by their teen-aged daughter, pleaded innocent Tuesday and were given court permission to apply for a drug education and rehabilitation program.

The couple appeared in Central Orange County Municipal Court in Santa Ana before Judge Manuel A. Ramirez and entered not guilty pleas to charges of possessing cocaine.

With the agreement of Deputy Dist. Atty. Jim Mulgrew, Ramirez approved the application for a rehabilitation program and ordered the couple to return to court Nov. 6, when it will be determined if they qualify for the program based on an investigation by the county Probation Department.

The Youngs were catapulted into the national limelight after their 13-year-old daughter, Deanna, walked into the Tustin police station Aug. 12 with a trash bag containing about an ounce of cocaine--with a street value estimated at $2,800--and drug packaging equipment, small amounts of marijuana and pills.

Inspired by Anti-Drug Lecture

The girl told officers that she was turning in her parents after being inspired by an anti-drug lecture she had heard earlier at a community church.

At the time of their arrests the father operated a construction company and worked at a Santa Ana tavern. His wife was a clerk in the federal Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana.

Following Tuesday’s hearing, Judith Young declined to answer most of the questions asked by reporters waiting outside the courtroom, saying she would probably have more to say after the Nov. 6 hearing.

She did admit, however, that she was “very relieved” that Ramirez had approved the couple’s request for a diversion program.

Her husband evaded reporters by ducking down a back stairway in the courthouse.

Although Deanna was taken into protective custody when she turned her parents in, the family was reunited Aug. 21 after a Juvenile Court judge ordered the girl released from Orangewood, the county children’s center. She was in school Tuesday and did not appear in court.