Teen-Age Girl Who Turned in Parents Is Back With Them

Deanna Young, the Tustin teen-ager who attracted nationwide attention by turning in her parents for allegedly using drugs, was returned to her mother and father because she “wanted to go home real bad,” the parents’ attorney said Friday.

Deanna, 13, was ordered released to her parents, Bobby and Judith Young, after a Juvenile Court custody hearing Thursday, “and that’s where she is right now,” attorney Gary L. Proctor said.

Proctor said he had argued during the hearing in Commissioner Betty J. Farrell’s courtroom that the girl “wanted to go home real bad and her parents wanted her back.”

“I also pointed out that if Deanna continued to be kept at Orangewood, the only message that would be sent to anybody else was that if you do something out of conscience, you will be punished,” Proctor said.

Susan O’Brien, the court-appointed attorney who has represented the daughter, said she knew that Deanna wanted to return home and “after speaking with her parents, I knew they could protect the child and would, and that she would be in no danger.”

Taken to Shelter

Deanna was taken to Orangewood, the county children’s shelter, shortly after she walked into a police station Aug. 13 carrying a trash bag containing $2,800 worth of cocaine, a small amount of marijuana and some pills.

Tustin police said Deanna told them that she had “decided to do something about the drugs in her home” after attending a lecture at a nearby church by a drug prevention officer from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Bobby Young, 49, a bartender at a Santa Ana tavern who also runs a construction company out of the family home, and his wife, Judith, 37, a court clerk, were arrested and charged with possession of cocaine. They were released from jail on their own recognizance and are scheduled to enter pleas Sept. 23.

Proctor said he has told the Youngs not to talk with their daughter about the criminal charges they face because she is the chief witness against them and “the integrity of criminal justice would not work” under such circumstances.

“The parents’ whole position right now is to resolve their difficulties and get their lives put back together,” Proctor said. “They’re not interested in any additional publicity or movies or anything like that.”

The Youngs have been so besieged by the news media and movie producers that they have not been able to return to their rented house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Tustin, Proctor said. He would not say where they are staying. Nor have they returned to their jobs.

Spent Some Time at Camp

According to O’Brien, Deanna’s attorney, the girl spent several days away from Orangewood at a camp earlier this week. It was a trip that had been planned before her parents were arrested.

“The reason I wanted her to go was to keep her hidden from the press,” O’Brien said. “And I also felt that if she could get a few days of normalcy, it would help.”

Proctor said arrangements are being made to get the entire family into a private counseling program between now and a scheduled Sept. 8 pretrial Juvenile Court hearing on charges that the Youngs had failed to exert effective parental control.

Proctor said that Deanna will be interviewed by a social worker “to get her perspective, to see if there are any problems at home and find out if there are any services the Social Services Department can provide.”

“If there’s no need to offer any services, then maybe they will move to dismiss the charges,” he said. “That’s what we hope to show, that there’s no need for intervention by Social Services.”