2nd arrest in hazing incident Fraternity member accused of battery BY CONOR GRIFFITH The Dominion Post A WVU student surrendered to the Morgantown Police Department for his role in a November 2013 hazing incident. According to a press release: Michael William Sousa, 21, of Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., was charged with battery and hazing. The WVU Directory lists him as a communications studies major. The accuser was a member of the 2013 fall pledge class at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, according to a criminal complaint filed by Morgantown Police Officer P.J. Scott. The pledge told police he was hazed and battered throughout the fall semester. The Dominion Post is not releasing the accuser’s identity to protect his privacy. The criminal complaint detailed one incident from Nov. 10: The accuser and his pledge class were instructed to be at the fraternity house on North Spruce Street at about 10:45 p.m. The accuser and the other pledges were lined up in the house, blindfolded and struck on the buttocks with a wooden paddle, the complaint read. The accuser said that after being struck once, the pledges were asked to volunteer for additional paddlings from two of the fraternity’s officers: Sousa and Chris Lazzell. The accuser said he volunteered for the additional paddlings along with the rest of the pledge class. He received the paddlings and sustained an injury to his buttocks that consisted of a contusion and laceration, the complaint read. On Dec. 13, the Morgantown Police Department arrested another WVU student, Andrew Nemes, 21, of Huntington Beach, Calif., after interviewing the ac- cuser and other potential witnesses, the press release read. Nemes was charged with hazing and battery in connection to an incident on Nov. 15. The complaint made no other mention of Lazzell but the police press release stated, “Additional updates will be provided as arrests are made.” Bob Campione, interim director of Student Organization Services at WVU, previously told The Dominion Post the fraternity was sanctioned by local and national alumni associations, was on a 5 1/2 semester suspension and the fraternity house closed. Because the fraternity house was located off-campus, the case is under the jurisdiction of the Morgantown Police Department. Campione could not be reached for further comment in time for this report.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 13:12:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015