The suspension was the longest in the school’s history, according to officials.
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Visiting Judge Thomas Hanna was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court on Oct. 28 to hear the cases in Butler County Area I Court in Oxford. All three Area Court Judges, Robert Lyons, Dan Haughey and Kevin McDonough, recused themselves from the cases.
According to the incident report filed by the student with the university and obtained through a Journal-News public records request, he claimed the alleged abuse “occurred during a hazing ritual at the university during a mandatory event.”
The student said the alleged incident occurred at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 16 at the fraternity house at 220 Tallawanda Road in Oxford.
The indictment contains charges of assault and hazing, first- and fourth-degree misdemeanors. Some face as few as two charges, while others face as many as six charges.
Those facing misdemeanor charges are: Andrew Michael Brinkman, Hugh Webster, Michael Keen, Liam Newcomer, James MacKeigan, Joshua Plaster, Tyler Glowaski, Connor Meek, Alex Niezyniecki, Scott Sidner, Nicholas Griswold, Jason Londa, Grady McMichen, Samay Lakshya Pahouja, Nicholas Carmichael, Benjamin Grossheim, Bennett Faloni and Jonathan H. Rauch.
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The men were arraigned Tuesday by Hanna, and the cases were continued until Dec. 10 or 13 for pre-trial hearings, according to court records.
Oxford Police Lt. Lara Fening said the misdemeanor indictments came following a lengthy investigation and in cooperation with the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office.
The alleged victim told school officials he was blindfolded and “told I could not leave even when I requested. Being forced to drink large amounts of alcohol and (smoke) marijuana. Other harassing and abusive behaviors such as spitting in face and kicking me.”
The incident report filed by the student also says, “I was blindfolded alongside 24 other pledges and we all waited in a room for about 1.5 hours while very scary music was playing. At that point I was very intoxicated, and they hit me more and more with wooden paddles,” the report said.
“(I) told (redacted) within 5 minutes of being there ‘call 911 I feel like I’m going to die.’
“The emergency squad showed up and took me on a stretcher … the … ambulance where I then spent roughly 7 hours in the hospital with a BAC (blood alcohol content) of .231 and was released at approximately 7:15 a.m. Sunday (March 17) morning,” the student wrote.
Fening said the victim’s willingness to come forward was unusual in this case.
“Usually we hear about these incidents third or fourth party, at best, after the fact,” Fening said. “It is difficult to investigate. In this case, we did have a willing victim.”
At the time of the incident, Miami President Gregory Crawford released a statement saying: “The contents of this report are brutal and deplorable and have brought us to a tipping point on this campus.”
Crawford added that he was “disheartened and outraged” by the behavior outlined in the complaint.
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