BARRINGTON — A local couple has been charged by the police with illegally serving alcohol to minors during a New Year’s Eve party at their home.

Gabriel A. Pacheco, 48, and Mary Lou Pacheco, 45, of 11 Northwest Passage, have become another example of the enforcement of the new social-host law, which is designed to make adults responsible for the underage drinking that takes place under their noses.

It’s also an example of how there are no secrets on the Internet.

The party came to the attention of the police after 13 pictures of the Barrington imbibers, ages 17 to 20, were posted on Facebook.com, a social networking site, under two different names.

One of the photos showed some of the underage partygoers holding beers in the kitchen, with the Pachecos in the background. Others showed the youths in the basement playing “beer pong,” a drinking game.

The pictures had been widely distributed in town, according to the police, who later confirmed through interviews that the youth were drinking at least part of the time they were directly under the supervision of the Pachecos.

On Friday, the police confronted the couple, who said they allowed their daughters to have friends over for a party.

Kathleen Sullivan, coordinator of Barrington’s substance abuse task force, said that after all the underage drinking tragedies in the community, the aggressive enforcement by the police and all the programs in the schools and community, it’s disappointing anytime it appears that local parents aren’t getting the message.

“People think they’re keeping kids safe by allowing them to drink under one roof,” she said. “It highlights the challenge we have in the community of showing people why teen drinking is unsafe and illegal.”

The Pachecos were summoned to appear in Providence District Court on Jan. 23.

The potential first-time penalty for the misdemeanor charge of purchasing or procuring alcohol for a minor is a minimum of a $350 fine up to a maximum of $1,000 combined with as long as six months in prison.

None of the seven partygoers have been charged, although the police said yesterday they expect to call the parents of the local youths to the station and show them the photos.

They included three Barrington High School students, all female, ages 17, 17 and 18; two other Barrington residents, a 19-year-old male and 20-year-old female; and two teens from out of town, a 17-year-old female and an 18-year-old male.

One of the girls in the picture caused a furor in town five months ago when she posted photographs of her party-going friends drinking beer in a Facebook group called “Intoxicate Oh-Eight,” named after the high school class of ’08.

More than 17 percent of this year’s senior class in Barrington High School belonged to the group.

Enforcing underage drinking has taken on new urgency in Barrington following two deaths and one near-death just since July.

The litany of serious alcohol-related cases has become all too familiar in town: Ryan Greenberg, awaiting trial on a charge of second-degree murder following the boating death of Patrick Murphy in July; Michael J. Silveira, now serving two years in the state Training School after he slammed his car into a tree in November, killing passenger Jonathan Converse; and the 17-year-old high school football player accused of eluding police in Colt State Park, Bristol, and nearly killing a pedestrian when he slammed his car in a stone wall.

The police are beginning to use the social-host law to clamp down on underage drinking.

Earlier this month, a 47-year-old Bristol woman was charged under the statute in connection with a New Year’s Eve party at her home at which she allegedly poured drinks for some of the minors who attended.

In that case, the police said they found 22 youngsters from Bristol, Warren and Portsmouth between the ages of 14 and 18 at the party, where the alcohol included eight bottles of liquor, a bottle of wine, 48 unopened cans of beer and 30 empty beer cans and bottles.

The police said they also found three pipes used to smoke marijuana.

gemery@projo.com