Medical blog » Fraternity

Police: Fraternity brother supplied drugs

admin — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:00:07 +0000

DURHAM – Authorities are refusing to comment on a police affidavit fingering a member of the Sigma Beta fraternity, which was raided in the fall, as the marijuana supplier to a fellow fraternity brother indicted this month on drug charges.
The affidavit, prepared by a detective with the state Attorney General’s Drug Task Force, says an undercover officer went to the Sigma Beta house on Madbury Road in August to buy drugs from David Mason, who was indicted in Strafford County Superior Court on four counts of felony drug sales.
While the officer was at the Sigma Beta house, a fellow fraternity brother named Matt asked Mason how much marijuana he had sold.
“Matt then commented that Mason can only sell because he (Matt) has the connection,” the affidavit says. “Matt went on to say that Mason was just a dealer and he (Matt) was the muscle and the brains.”
Matt’s last name isn’t listed in the affidavit, but the document says a criminal informant told police Matt is a Sigma Beta brother who lived at the fraternity house and is originally from Rhode Island. The informant also identified Matt’s vehicle to police, who noted it had Rhode Island plates, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit was used as proof to obtain a search warrant that led to a raid at Sigma Beta on Sept. 30 and the arrest of nine fraternity brothers. Mason is the only one arrested who has been indicted on felony charges.
Detective John Lepkowski, who signed the affidavit, would not speak about the case.
Matthew Bessette, of Lincoln, R.I., was charged with misdemeanor possession of alcohol and drugs, which was reduced to possession of alcohol. He pleaded guilty to that in Durham District Court yesterday morning in a deal with prosecutors that allowed the drug charge to be put on hold pending six months of good behavior and 20 hours of community service. Bessette received a $300 fine for the alcohol possession.
Bessette refused to discuss the affidavit yesterday.
“I’m not saying I am him, I’m not saying I’m not him, I’m just saying I have no comment,” he said.
University of New Hampshire police, who prosecuted the case, also would not comment about the affidavit.
When officers searched Bessette’s room, they came up with a laundry list of drug paraphernalia, according to an inventory filed in court. Seized items include rolling papers, a scale, two boxes of sandwich bags and several baggies filled with “vegetative matter.”
The list does not say precisely how much “vegetative matter” was recovered.
Deputy Strafford County Attorney Hope Flynn said this week she had no deal with Bessette and the case was being handled by UNH police because there were no possible felony charges involved.
UNH officials confirmed yesterday that Bessette is still a student at the school.
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U Of M Fraternity House Raided For Allegedly Selling Drugs

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:56:59 +0000

CORAL Gables, Fla. –
An ongoing investigation involving the sales of illegal drugs resulted in two arrests at a University of Miami fraternity house.
The Coral Gables Police Department Special Investigations Section’s Vice, Intelligence and Narcotics unit in conjunction with the University of Miami Police Department executed a search warrant Thursday at the ZETA BETA TAU fraternity house.
“The University of Miami is cooperating with Coral Gables Police on this ongoing investigation, and has been in touch with the national organization of ZBT. The University has zero tolerance with regard to illegal drugs on campus,” said Dr. Pat Whitely, Vice President of Student Affairs at the University of Miami.
The suspects are reportedly cooperating with police, which may result in more arrests.

Fraternity hazing may have led to UC Santa Cruz student's …

admin — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:01:50 +0000

DAVENPORT — A top State Parks official confirmed Wednesday that authorities are investigating a severe hypothermia case at Bonny Doon Beach as a possible fraternity hazing incident.
Warren Fung, a 20-year-old sophomore at UC Santa Cruz, remains hospitalized at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center-Fremont, but medical officials and relatives have declined to discuss his condition.
Kirk Lingenfelter, a State Parks supervisor overseeing the Santa Cruz County coastline, said Fung has regained consciousness and spoken with family and friends. UCSC police and the District Attorney’s Office are still working with park rangers to determine whether a crime was committed during the Dec. 15 incident.
“I am certainly not going to speculate what charges could be brought to bear,” Lingenfelter said. Under the state’s hazing law, which was revised in 2006, anyone found guilty of causing serious bodily harm can be charged with a felony and serve up to a year in jail or prison if convicted.
Lingenfelter said he did not expect to know what happened to Fung until more students can be interviewed after returning from winter break next week. Investigators also need to take a statement directly from Fung, who was transferred to the hospital after friends took him to a 24-hour medical clinic in Santa Cruz when he fell unconscious at the beach.
Lingenfelter said it’s unclear how long Fung, who has been described as slight of build, was in the water or on the beach,
where up to 50 young people had gathered as early as 7 a.m. Investigators are trying to determine if the crowd had gathered the night before and stayed through the morning, which would violate state park rules.
Witnesses told park rangers they were stargazing, but authorities became suspicious that hazing was involved after a birdwatcher standing on a bluff above the beach that morning told UCSC police he saw several things indicating a fraternity event. Lingenfelter said he could not elaborate on the man’s statement because he had not read it.
The birdwatcher gave authorities a brief video clip he took at the beach, which is a mile south of Davenport. But Lingenfelter said the video did not provide any conclusive evidence of a hazing incident.
He said it remains unclear which fraternity, if any, was involved. There are at least 20 fraternity and sororities represented on campus.
UCSC is awaiting the outcome of the State Parks investigation before looking into any potential student involvement in the event, a campus spokesman said.
Isaac Ruelas, the youth minister for Christian Cathedral, an Oakland church connected to the private high school where Fung graduated, said he heard that Fung “was contemplating joining a fraternity and that they invited him out to some kind of hazing” that involved swimming in the ocean.
Ruelas said Fung weighs about 98 pounds and is about 5 feet 4 inches tall. State Parks records indicate the water temperature that morning was about 52 degrees and the air temperature was about 40.
Ruelas described Fung as “very motivated” and a “good kid for the most part.” Fung represents UCSC’s College Ten on the Student Fee Advisory Committee, and a campus official said Fung is well-liked among peers on that panel.
Several of Fung’s friends on the online social network site Facebook are members of the Pi Alpha Phi chapter at UCSC. But the chapter’s president, Ronald Chan, said Fung is not a member and that the group does not permit hazing practices.
“We don’t do any extremes,” Chan said, though he declined to discuss what pledges do to seek membership.
Chan said he was not present at the Dec. 15 beach gathering but was unsure whether other members of his fraternity were. UCSC’s winter break began the day before, so he said he expected many of the members were out of town.
Anyone with information about the case can call State Parks at 429-2850 or UCSC police at 459-2231.
Contact J.M. Brown at 429-2410 or
.