Clarice Schillinger gets probation for giving alcohol to minors at daughter’s drunken birthday party

Clarice Schillinger, a former GOP lieutenant governor candidate and leader in Pennsylvania’s conservative school board movement, pleaded no contest Wednesday to supplying alcohol to minors at a 17th birthday party for her daughter last fall that police said ended with intoxicated adults punching teenagers fleeing Schillinger’s Doylestown home.

But prosecutors dismissed charges of simple assault and harassment against Schillinger, who was sentenced to 12 months probation for the misdemeanor alcohol charge.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Stephen Corr told Schillinger it was “offensive that you hold yourself out to be one thing in public and another behind closed doors,” according to the Bucks County Courier Times.

“Mrs. Schillinger I hope you have learned a lesson from this,” Corr said, according to the Courier Times. “You are no longer going to be the fun mom.”

Schillinger, 37, led the Back to School PA political action committee, which in 2021 spent more than $500,000 from Bucks County venture capitalist Paul Martino on school board races, primarily backing Republican candidates. She then ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in the GOP primary in 2022.

A statement issued by a public relations firm Wednesday said that Schillinger had “lost her livelihood” as a result of her arrest and subsequent media attention.

“In the blink of an eye, my life changed, along with the lives of my children,” Schillinger said in the statement. “A series of false allegations drawn out in the media have cost me almost everything. No family should ever go through this.”

Schillinger was charged in October in connection with the Sept. 29 party at her home. In an affidavit outlining the charges, police said that Schillinger, her boyfriend, and her mother each punched teenagers while intoxicated toward the end of the night.

While Schillinger’s mother, Danette Bert, and boyfriend, Shan Wilson, were charged with simple assault and harassment, those charges were withdrawn. Both pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in December.

At a hearing January at district court in Jamison, three teenagers who attended the party described a drunken scene, including Schillinger sitting on a boy’s lap and taking shots of vodka in the basement of her home. The teens said Schillinger had stocked the bar with New Amsterdam vodka and Malibu rum, and played beer pong with them — using vodka. One boy said he took about 15 shots before falling asleep in a bathroom.

Another boy described Schillinger and Wilson fighting, and said Wilson slammed him into a wall after he tried to intervene.

The third teen — who said Schillinger had sat in his lap earlier in the night — testified Schillinger punched him in the face with a closed fist when he tried to leave the party.

Schillinger’s lawyer during that hearing argued that her actions didn’t constitute simple assault, noting the size difference between her and the teenager, who was 6-foot-8 and uninjured.

Schillinger was represented Wednesday by lawyer Brian McMonagle, who declined to comment after the hearing.

In a statement released by the public relations firm, McMonagle said Schillinger had faced “several unwarranted charges” that resulted in “crippling negative media attention.”

“With the case behind her, Ms. Schillinger is eager to share her experience to help educate and protect other Pennsylvania moms and continue her support of Pennsylvania youth and schools,” McMonagle said in the statement.

In a separate case in February, court records show Schillinger pleaded guilty to a citation for public drunkenness in Montgomery County.