money Former Mizzou Fiji member charged in Santulli hazing incident arrested after hearing
A former member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity at the University of Missouri was arrested and led out of a Boone County courtroom in handcuffs at the end of a hearing Friday afternoon.
Thomas Shultz, of Chesterfield, was one of two men indicted by a grand jury last week with felony hazing charges of life endangerment and misdemeanor charges of supplying liquor to a minor or intoxicated person stemming from an alcohol poisoning incident last fall that resulted in significant brain damage to a freshman pledge.
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."
More: Felony charges filed against two former Mizzou Fiji brothers in Danny Santulli hazing case
Shultz was also indicted with felony tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution.
Arrest warrants were issued for Shultz and fellow fraternity member Ryan Delanty on June 17, with bond set at $50,000 for each of them.
Shultz's defense team over this past week has sought a reduction to his bond and for him to be released at his own recognizance. His attorney also made a motion for discovery, seeking information from the Boone County Prosecutor's Office.
Shultz is scheduled for a bond hearing at 10:30 a.m. Monday before Judge Jeff Harris.
No hearings are currently scheduled in Delanty's case. His attorney has also filed a motion for a bond reduction.
Danny Santulli, 19, recently 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.
Shultz was vice president and treasurer of the fraternity, while Delanty had been designated as Santulli's mentor, or "pledge dad."
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.
Until recently, Fiji member Alec Wetzler faced the only criminal charges, misdemeanor counts of supplying alcohol to a minor and possession of alcohol by a minor.
Wetzler has a court hearing scheduled in August.
More: Heavy alcohol consumption is entrenched in Greek life, MU Faculty Council report says
MU 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.
UM System President and MU Chancellor Mun Choi on Thursday during a Board of Curators meeting said those who participated in the incident are being held accountable and that "many of those students have been suspended or expelled."
"That fraternity did something that was egregious," Choi said.
The university takes this matter "very, very seriously," he said.
"We are going to continue with the education not only of those who participate in Greek Life, but students in general," Choi told a group of gathered media. "Drinking has become a problem at college campuses; we're not unique in that space. But we have to do, all of us, a better job of training, educating and also understanding that we're going to hold individuals accountable."
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Former Fiji member charged in Santulli hazing arrested after hearing
