Felony charges filed against two former Mizzou Fiji brothers in Danny Santulli hazing case
Felony hazing charges were filed against two former members of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity Friday for their roles in an alcohol poisoning incident last fall at the University of Missouri that resulted in significant brain damage to a freshman pledge.
Ryan Delanty, of Ballwin, and Thomas Shultz, of Chesterfield, were indicted by a Boone County grand jury with felony hazing charges of life endangerment and misdemeanor charges of supplying liquor to a minor or intoxicated person. Shultz was also indicted with felony tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution.
Under the state of Missouri's anti-hazing statute, hazing is classified as a felony when "the act creates a substantial risk to the life of the student or prospective member."
Arrest warrants have been issued for Delanty and Shultz, online court records show, with bond set at $50,000 for each of them.
Danny Santulli, 19, has returned to his parents' home in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, after several months at a rehabilitation hospital in Colorado, family attorney David Bianchi has said. Santulli's condition hasn't improved since the Oct. 19 "pledge dad reveal night" at Phi Gamma Delta, known commonly as Fiji.
More: Danny Santulli's family on 'Good Morning America': Prosecute the Fiji brothers responsible
Delanty had been designated as Santulli's mentor, or "pledge dad." Shultz was vice president and treasurer of the fraternity.
Santulli was required to consume an entire bottle of vodka during the fraternity event, and he drank three-fourths of the bottle before passing out and becoming unresponsive, according to court documents.
"He has massive brain damage," Bianchi told the Tribune of Santulli earlier this month. "He's blind. He's unable to walk or communicate."
Surveillance video obtained by the Tribune shows a fraternity member placing a tube in Santulli's mouth, connected to a funnel filled with beer on the other end. Santulli doesn't resist and appears to consume the entire contents of the funnel.
Santulli is seen collapsing to the floor later that night. Fraternity members carried him to a sofa and plopped him down upon it. About 90 minutes later, Santulli partially slid onto the floor from the sofa. At nearly 1 a.m., two fraternity brothers picked up Santulli and carried him outside before loading him into a waiting car.
Santulli was in cardiac arrest when he reached University of Missouri Hospital and required resuscitation.
MU has since removed the fraternity from campus and sanctioned 13 fraternity members over the incident, but the university hasn't made the sanctions public.
There were student protests on campus resulting from the incident.
Lawsuits have been dropped against the original 23 defendants in the civil case, including Delanty, after settlements with Santulli's family. Two new defendants have been added to the lawsuit, fraternity members Samuel Gandhi and Alec Wetzler.
Until Friday, Wetzler had faced the only criminal charges filed in the incident, misdemeanor counts of supplying alcohol to a minor and possession of alcohol by a minor. The probable cause statement filed in his case sought a felony hazing charge, alleging Santulli's life was endangered by Wetzler. Wetzler on June 9 waived his initial appearance and entered a "not guilty" plea, court records indicate.
More: Petition drive seeks justice for Danny Santulli and felonies for Mizzou Fiji members
The probable cause in Wetzler's case describes a text message from Delanty to a friend at 10:57 p.m. Oct. 19 saying, "My son is dead." The friend texted back asking what Delanty did to him, with Delanty texting, "I left him."
"Delanty played a critical role in perpetuating the events of the night," including giving Santulli the bottle of vodka he was expected to drink, the civil lawsuit stated.
The delay in criminal charges was a sore point with family members interviewed on "Good Morning America" June 10.
"It makes me sick, sick to my stomach seeing the people involved that harmed Danny walking around campus acting like they did nothing wrong," said Santulli's sister, Meredith Santulli, on GMA.
Meredith is an MU student. Santulli's brother, Nick, graduated from Mizzou, Bianchi said.
A Change.org petition drive seeking felony charges in the case had garnered approximately 11,000 supporters by Friday evening.
Tribune reporter Roger McKinney contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Felony hazing charges filed against two in Fiji alcohol poisoning case
