Feb 20, 2008 10:30 am US/Mountain
Estes Police Found Pledges Amidst A Sea Of Damage
ESTES PARK, Colo. (CBS4) ―
-
-
An image inside the motel room
photo by Walt Hester, Estes Park Trail-Gazette (eptrail.com)
Police in Estes Park on Wednesday released more details about the underage drinking and felony criminal mischief arrests of pledges from the Delta Chi fraternity in Boulder.
The new information details an alarming amount of damage done to two rooms in the mountain town's Super 8 Motel.
After reports of a loud party in one of the rooms, officers arrived at the motel about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. They found the nine University of Colorado students in rooms No. 5 and 6 amid a sea of destruction. That damage was estimated at more than $1,000 and included the following:
- A 3 foot by one-and-a-half foot hole in the wall between the bathroom and bedroom
- Smaller holes in the walls of both rooms and a door
- Ceiling fans ripped down from the ceiling and torn apart
- Lamps destroyed
- Pictures and heating units ripped off the wall and torn apart
- Shower curtains and rods torn down
- Phones broken in pieces
- Molding around doors pulled off and broken
- Vomit and blood on various surfaces
- Tables in pieces
- One mirror had several wads of spit on it, another was pulled off the wall and shattered
- A dresser drawer was broken apart
- A shelf was in pieces
- Furniture broken and torn apart
- The circuit breaker in one of the rooms had been tripped
An earlier report also stated that a coffee pot full of urine was also discovered in the room.
Several of the pledges told police there were dropped off at the motel by older fraternity members and were told to "get to know each other." Hard liquor and a keg of beer were found in the rooms.
"We want people to enjoy being in Estes Park but we don't want folks to exhibit this type of behavior," Det. Rick Life said in a prepared release.
The nine students, all between the ages of 18 and 20, were arrested and taken to the Larimer County Detention Center. Their photos of Andrew Shapiro, Nicholas Mortimer, William Martin, Matthew Bowen, Lukas Feyh, Kyle Maltz, Kyle Jungels, Britt Cherster and Anthony Cronin can be seen in the slideshow link at right.
The national headquarters of the Delta Chi fraternity have suspended the Boulder chapter following the arrests.
In 2004, fraternities in Boulder temporarily banned parties after the alcohol poisoning death of Lynn "Gordie" Bailey. Bailey's mother, Leslie Lanahan, filed a civil lawsuit alleging the Chi Psi fraternity and some of its former members were negligent and responsible for her son's death. The defendants have denied the claims.
Fraternities began operating as independent groups after the Interfraternity Council refused in 2005 to agree to reforms put forward by CU administrators, including a demand for rush or recruitment to be delayed from the fall to the spring.
University administrators said first-year students should have time to acclimate to university life before deciding whether to join a fraternity.
More than 100 schools around the country have similar rush guidelines. Fraternity leaders worried a delay would cost them enrollment dues and hurt recruitment.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Slideshow: Images Of The Damage & Arrested Pledges
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments