3 charged in Pike case
Two USU students and one former USU student were charged in relation to an incident in which a 17-year-old girl was dropped off at Logan Regional Hospital with alcohol poisoning after attending a party at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house in September.
This case led to the chapter’s suspension by USU and the Pi Kappa Alpha national headquarters.
Casey Hafla, 22, a member of USU’s Gamma Epsilon chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha, was arrested Monday on suspicion of giving alcohol to a minor at a party hosted by the fraternity in late September, said Police Chief Gary Jensen of Logan Police Department. Hayden Ahlbrandt, 20, a former USU student, will also be served a criminal summons for supplying alcohol to a minor.
Individuals with charges of this nature may face up to one year in jail, Jensen said.
The 17-year-old, who went to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, was referred to juvenile court for possession of alcohol by a minor.
“There was a party that involved alcohol, and the end result was that some of the frat students took her to the emergency room when they noticed she was in trouble,” Jensen said.
Jensen said police have been investigating who specifically supplied the 17-year-old girl with the alcohol she imbibed. After interviewing several individuals it’s believe Halfa and Ahlbrandt supplied the alcohol, Jensen added.
Jensen said several other individuals received alcohol from members of the fraternity.
“The investigation of that particular evening, I think, is relatively conclusive now, however, we’ve had a couple of other incidents – arrests that have been made outside of that particular evening,” Jensen said.
Two minor in possession citations were given to people who claimed fraternity members supplied those minors with alcohol, Jensen said, adding that police also issued a DUI to an individual who admitted to consuming alcohol at the fraternity. Jensen said these incidents occurred on separate nights from the incident involving the 17-year-old.
Eric Olsen, associate vice president for student services, said the suspension given to the fraternity by its parent organization will soon end.
“There are two suspensions in place,” Olsen said. “President Albrecht gave an immediate and indefinite suspension, and then the national fraternity did a suspension for 30 days.”
Olsen said the suspension from the national Pi Kappa Alpha organization ends Nov. 3. He said he is unaware of what the organization plans to do after that, but it has the option to permanently eliminate the chapter.
Justin True, associate director of communications and marketing for the national Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, said the national fraternity is waiting for the official investigation to end before it’s decided what will happen to the USU chapter.
Olsen said the suspension put in place by Albrecht is still in effect.
“The suspension that President Albrecht has put into place is a suspension from Greek Council,” Olsen said. “Utah State University does not recognize the individual fraternities and sororities, the Greek Council does. We recognize Greek Council as a student organization.”
The suspension from the Council means the fraternity is no longer recognized by USU and cannot use facilities like the Taggart Student Center, Olsen said. He said normally fraternities and sororities within the council can use the building for activities involving the recruitment process.
Olsen said the council might make a decision on the future of USU’s Pi Kappa Alpah chapter in the police investigation. The fraternity may continue to run independently from USU as long as it has support from its national organization, he said.
Olsen said administrators wish to be supportive of all USU fraternities and sororities. He said they see members of the organizations as students first and want to continue to be supportive of them.
“We are concerned about safety and that’s why we took the action initially to suspend them from Greek Council,” Olsen said. “We do take this seriously and the safety of our students comes first.”
– chris.w.lee@aggiemail.usu.edu