Couple pleads guilty to allowing minors to drink alcohol on their property

A Sikeston, Mo., couple previously facing multiple counts of supplying alcohol to minors pleaded guilty today to charges of permitting consumption by minors on property they controlled, their attorney said.

The charges against Mark Cheatham, 49, and Terry Brewer Cheatham, 47, of Sikeston stemmed from a Notre Dame Regional High School party they threw for their son's graduating class at their residence last May.

The Cheathams pleaded guilty to four counts each of allowing minors to drink on their property, but denied that they supplied liquor, said attorney Stephen Wilson.

They opted to pay fines of $500 per charge rather than the six months in jail, he said.

Wilson said his client, Mark Cheatham, was concerned about statements he made to Sikston police the night of the party, and would like to clarify that he told an officer it was worth any cost to him to keep his son and his friends from drinking and possibly getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.

"These folks were really just concerned with keeping children safe," he said.