The president and three members of a San Diego State College fraternity had been slapped with costs after one among them was deliberately set on fireplace throughout a pre-planned skit at a celebration final yr, California prosecutors mentioned.
The Phi Kappa Psi members – Caden Cooper, 22, Lucas Cowling, 20, Christopher Serrano, 20, and Lars Larsen, 19 – are accused of purposely setting Larsen ablaze throughout a big frat social gathering whereas the group was on probation, based on the San Diego County District Lawyer.
Larsen, who was additionally charged, was a pledge on the time and spent a number of weeks within the hospital receiving remedy for third-degree burns that lined 16% of his physique, prosecutors mentioned.
“The college prioritizes the well being and security of our campus neighborhood and has excessive expectations for the way all members of the college neighborhood, together with college students, behave within the curiosity of people and neighborhood security and wellbeing,” a college spokesperson mentioned in an announcement to The Put up.
The college positioned the frat on interim suspicion after receiving an nameless tip of an alleged hazing incident at a Phi Kappa Psi social gathering on Feb. 17, 2024. The frat was already on probation on the time of the incident as a consequence of a string of hazing points, a number of shops reported.
The establishment referred the matter to the DA’s workplace and has since launched an administrative investigation, the spokesperson mentioned.
Larsen, Cooper and Cowling deliberate the damaging stunt, during which Serrano was directed to set Larsen on fireplace, prosecutors mentioned, including that the underage college students consumed alcohol earlier than executing the skit.
Cooper was the fraternity president, Cowling was on the pledge board, and Serrano, like Larsen, was a pledge.
Prosecutors mentioned Larsen, Cooper and Cowling then tried to cowl up the incident by mendacity to police, deleting proof and instructing different frat members to do the identical if approached by legislation enforcement.
The frat brothers had been every charged with at the least one felony, together with recklessly inflicting a hearth with nice bodily harm, conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the general public, and violating the social host ordinance.
If convicted of all costs, the scholars may spend as much as seven years in jail, prosecutors mentioned.
They had been every arraigned on Monday and launched on the situation they not take part in any fraternity occasions or recruitment. They had been additionally ordered to not drink alcohol if underage.
All 4 males pleaded not responsible and are due again in courtroom on March 18.
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