An Ohio State sophomore said she was arrested Saturday even though she never drank from the cup of alcohol she admits she was holding.

Chelsea Clancy-Krueger, 19, said she spent 10 hours in the Franklin County Correctional Center II in a jail cell with prostitutes and recovering drug addicts.

“They were running their fingers through my hair and calling us the new girls,” said Clancy-Krueger, a major in communication.

She said she believed that if she was not drinking, she could not be arrested.

She was wrong, according to police.

According to Ohio Revised Code 4301.69, section B, no person who is the owner or occupant of any public or private place shall knowingly allow any underage person to remain in or on the place while possessing or consuming beer or intoxicating liquor. In addition, unless, the intoxicating liquor or beer is given to the person possessing or consuming it by that person’s parent, spouse who is not an underage person, or legal guardian and the parent, or unless the legal guardian is present at the time of the person’s possession or consumption of the beer or intoxicating liquor.

Underage possession and underage consumption are both first-degree misdemeanors, said Lt. Shawn Bain of the Franklin County Sheriffs Office.

“As long as we see someone who appears to be under 21 and holding a drink we can ask to see an ID,” Bain said.

This event illustrates that students need to know their rights to avoid being arrested by undercover police, and know the severity of being arrested for underage drinking.

Clancy-Krueger was on the front porch of a friend’s house and did not think undercover police were allowed to come up onto private property.

“I had just been handed a drink when an undercover cop came up, showed me his badge, and asked to see an ID,” she said.

According to Bain, if police see someone in a yard or on the porch that looks young, they are allowed to go onto the yard or porch and question them.

“We say that we are able to go anywhere that a postman or a pizza man can go,” he said.

This is according to the STOP Underage Access to Alcohol program started in 2003, in which undercover police are on campus the days there are football games to try to prevent underage drinking.

Once in the yard or on the porch, police are able to look inside of a house. If while on the porch they can see inside and someone is drinking that looks under 21, police are allowed to enter the house and request identification.

According to police, because underage drinking is a first-degree misdemeanor, should anyone be arrested, they will be taken to the Franklin County Correctional Center.

“We were given jumpsuits, brought to the main cell, and were told to try and protect ourselves because there was no supervision,” Clancy-Krueger said.

However Deputy Robinson of the FCCC, who declined to give her first name, said that is absolutely not true and said “I cannot say if it is dangerous or not … it’s jail.”

“People don’t realize that underage drinking is the highest degree misdemeanor, it is at the same level as domestic violence,” Bain said. “People that beat their wives are given the same degree misdemeanor as people that drink underage.”

Kelly Cass can be reached at [email protected].