Tustin : Publicity Taking Toll of Parents in Drug Case

Parents who last week were accused by their 13-year-old daughter of drug abuse have been unable to return to their Tustin home or to their jobs because of public attention, their attorney said.

Bobby Dale Young, a bartender, and Judith Ann Young, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court clerk, await a Sept. 23 arraignment on drug possession charges and a hearing next month before juvenile authorities. At issue is whether their daughter, Deanna, who was placed in a foster home pending an investigation by a social service worker, should be returned to her parents.

“Right now they (the parents) are just living on their savings until they can get their lives reorganized,” said the Youngs’ Santa Ana attorney, Gary L. Proctor. “They are hanging in there to get their child back. All this media glare is just making it doubly hard.” Proctor said the parents, whose whereabouts he declined to disclose, have no intention of permanently moving or quitting their jobs.

They were arrested after Deanna heard a talk against drugs by an Orange County sheriff’s deputy, went home, gathered up small amounts of marijuana, pills and about an ounce of cocaine, and took the items to Tustin police.