Local tavern employees charged with serving alcohol to a minor

State College Police Department filed charges Monday against two employees at Stoney's Posthouse Tavern, 146 N. Atherton St., for serving a 20-year-old employee alcoholic beverages Jan. 26. The employee, Benjamin J. Dreibelbis later left the bar, went to an apartment on Bellaire Avenue, and died of a heroin overdose.

Kenneth Wayne Palkovich, 35, of State College and Carrie Ann Corbett, 28, of Bellefonte were charged with furnishing alcohol to a minor. Similar charges against a third unnamed employee will be filed at a later date, police said.

Neither Palkovich nor Corbett could be reached for comment yesterday.

Stoney's management had no comment yesterday as to whether or not the two employees had been fired, or what measures they have taken or will take to prevent serving alcohol to underage drinkers.

An autopsy performed on Dreibelbis by Centre County Coroner Rich Kelley on Jan. 27 revealed the cause of death as a heroin overdose. A toxicology report was also ordered at that time. The results, which came back Monday, revealed his blood alcohol level as .104 percent.

A preliminary hearing for Palkovich and Corbett is scheduled for 9 a.m., April 9, at the Center County Courthouse in Bellefonte.

The source of the heroin and the circumstances surrounding the death are still under investigation, police said.

-- by Clayton Walsh