Dad Gets Jail Time for Giving 17 Shots of Vodka to His 13-Year Old Daughter

Charles Younger will be spending Father's Day in jail.

Earlier this month, Younger pleaded guilty to child endangerment and corrupting the morals of a minor after he admitted to giving his 13-year-old daughter 17 shots of vodka "for her birthday" during a party in Allentown, Pennsylvania in January.

According to the Allentown Morning Call, Monday Younger was sentenced to two to four years in a state prison for his reckless behavior, which went way beyond just feeding booze to his kid.

Before the gavel fell on Monday, the court heard that Younger not only sent his daughter to the liquor store with her mother to buy the vodka, but that he ran away when a friend called an ambulance for the vomiting and unconscious girl. "I did run, but I came back," he told judge, explaining that he "panicked" and that his children "mean everything to me."

Younger's daughter, whose blood alcohol level was .32 percent—four times the legal limit for driving in Pennsylvania—was taken to the hospital by ambulance, but then had to be airlifted by helicopter to a second hospital for further treatment.

As disturbing as this incident is, the victim here is hardly the youngest child to be administered alcohol by a parent. A Wisconsin couple made headlines a couple of years ago, when they accidentally gave their six-week-old girl a bottle of formula laced with two shots of vodka, bringing their baby's blood alcohol level to 0.294.

The parents in that case were not charged criminally, however, since the administration of vodka was found to be completely accidental, and not deliberate or encouraged as it was in Charles Younger's case.

This isn't Younger's first run-in with the law, as his rap sheet includes armed robbery and aggravated assault convictions. Michelle Edwards—the girl's mother, who was also absent from the family home when paramedics arrived—was sentenced to four-and-a-half to 23 months in county jail.

"My stupidity caused my kids to lose both their parents," Younger told the court.