BUCKFIELD – Police responding to a loud noise complaint at a Jordan Road home early Sunday morning arrived to find themselves in the midst of an underage drinking party, state police said.

Twenty-eight have been charged with consumption of alcohol by a minor, said Maine State Police Trooper Jason Wing. He also arrested James Kimball, 21, of Buckfield, on a charge of furnishing a place for minors to consume alcohol. Kimball was taken to Oxford County Jail in Paris early Sunday morning and later released.

He and 24 of the 28 youths will be arraigned July 16 in Paris District Court. Fifteen of the 28 are under the age of 18 and one is an eighth-grader at Buckfield Junior/Senior High School, Wing said.

Four others under the age of 18 who sneaked away before police could charge them are expected to be summoned, as well, Wing said.

“We know who they are and where they live,” he said Tuesday.

He said some of the juveniles who were summoned on the drinking charge are school athletes.

Wing said a majority of the teens attend area schools. Several of the older youths played sports locally and had graduated from Buckfield High School, according to Wing, Sun Journal archives and SAD 39 Superintendent Richard Colpitts.

“Those students who we find were participating and were present, they will be sanctioned from playing athletics for the remainder of the year,” Colpitts said.

He said the bust verified that alcohol is a problem in Western Maine “and we’re worried about that.”

Among the adults summoned to court were:

• Christopher Barnaby, 18; Kaitlin Bradbury, 19; Charles Allen, 18; Justin Woodcock, 19; Kasey Farrington, 19; Ryan Hall, 20; and Cy Wilkinson, 18, all of Buckfield.

• Audrey Dudley and Kendra Andrews, both 18; and Benjamin Libby, 19, all of Hartford.

• Jason Cyr, 18, of Livermore Falls.

• Joshua Emery, 18; and John Condon, 19, both of Sumner.

Wing said they were called to the Jordan Road home of Gretchen Kimball, a teacher at the Buckfield Junior-Senior High School, at 12:30 a.m. Sunday to investigate loud noises. Gretchen Kimball, the mother of James Kimball, was away on vacation in Florida and was unaware of the party, Wing said.

“I walked into the middle of the group and announced we were there and that’s when they noticed we were there. I said, ‘State police! Don’t run,’ and one girl tried to run, but she was heavily intoxicated and kept stumbling,” Wing said.

The youths were drinking Budweiser Light, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and Twisted Tea. Wing said some youths admitted to also drinking whiskey; however, no whiskey bottles were found.

Police also found and seized a funneling hose and bucket used to consume alcohol quickly.

“The sad thing is that some of these kids think it’s a joke, especially the ones who are constant problems and don’t realize what their choices could lead to,” Wing said.

The trooper said Sunday morning’s party and one last June in Roxbury, at which he charged 27 teenagers, seem to be normal happenings in Western Maine.

“I will say that parents down in Buckfield were much angrier and much more receptive to us doing something than the parents up in the Rumford area were last year,” Wing said.