Pledges face charges
The nine Delta Chi fraternity pledges allegedly involved in damaging two Super 8 Motel rooms in Estes Park are facing criminal charges.
Delta Chi’s national headquarters has put its CU chapter on probation until spring of next year. The chapter will also face other sanctions, according to a press release.
William Martin, Britt Chester, Kyle Jungels, Anthony Cronin, Matthew Bowen, Nicholas Mortimer, Lukas Feyh, Kyle Maltz and Andrew Sapio drove to a Super 8 Motel in Estes Park on a fraternity planning retreat Feb 16.
The motel was booked at about 6:30 p.m., and the pledges arrived between 9:00 and 9:30 p.m., according to Detective Rick Life. They were arrested at about 2:30 a.m. the following day after police received an anonymous tip of a disturbance in the motel. Police found a keg of beer, bottles of liquor, and marijuana in the rooms.
The damage, which was estimated by a Delta Chi insurance adjuster to be over $15,000, included a one-by-three foot hole in a wall. Heating units and fans were also torn from their places, and blood and vomit were found on various surfaces, and suspected urine in a coffee pot, according to the police report.
All nine were charged with criminal mischief and underage possession and consumption of alcohol. All those contacted declined requests for an interview.
Life said that he accompanied Delta Chi president Wade Holland to their holding cells where Holland, “gave them a speech that their behavior was not conducive to the fraternity.”
According to the police report, “the consensus was everyone took part in the destruction.”
All nine pledges admitted to consuming alcohol.
Several pledges stated to police that the keg was in the motel room by the time they arrived.
“The alcohol was already there,” Bowen said in a statement to police from the police report.
According to the report, “Bowen reported he was almost positive it was the same person who rented the motel room for them”.
“Our CU frat was not involved except for providing us with the keg,” Sapiro said in a statement to police from the police report.
According to Life, the rooms were booked under the name Nick Heguy, which was originally thought to be a fake name.
However, Nick Heguy is the Rush Chair for Delta Chi, according to the fraternity’s Web site and CU Greek Advocate Marc Stine. Whoever booked the rooms also gave an address and a driver’s license number, but did not present any ID. The address matched the name but the license number did not.
“You can call me the recruitment chair if you want,” Heguy said.
Heguy said he wasn’t involved in the incident, saying that Delta Chi elected another recruitment chair and that his name was put on the website as a contact.
“The reason the license didn’t match up is because it isn’t me,” Heguy said.
Delta Chi national headquarters investigated the incident. According to a press release originally written on March 7, the CU chapter of Delta Chi has been placed on probation until May 31, 2009. The chapter will be supervised by a Delta Chi staff member until it is determined the supervision is longer needed.
Also according to the press release, the Delta Chi national headquarters has initiated “expulsion proceedings” of one current member and “disassociated” the nine pledges.
The Inter Fraternity Council Judicial board could punish Delta Chi fraternity further, Stine said.
“The IFC is accepting [the national headquarter’s] investigation and will determine any additional local sanctions,” Stine said.
Sanctions will “range from reprimand to expulsion,” and will be decided on a meeting on March 12, Stine said.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writers Sam Dieter and Emily Burrows-Poretsky at Samuel.Dieter@colorado.edu and Emily.Burrows-Poretsky@colorado.edu
