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Mom visits inmates as hazing cases close
Lauren Brooks
Staff Writer
November 30, 2005
OROVILLE -- Almost 10 months after her son's death, during what police called a fraternity hazing ritual, Debbie Smith visited the Butte County Jail on Nov. 23 to talk to the former Chi Tau men who hazed her son, Matthew Carrington.
Smith told the four men she doesn't hate them and wants to work with them to make an anti-hazing documentary.
On Feb. 2, Carrington, a fraternity pledge, died of water intoxication during a hazing ritual in the now defunct Chi Tau house's basement, police said.
A trial for the former fraternity men was set for Nov. 2, but on Oct. 28 four men pleaded guilty to misdemeanor hazing charges, while three also pleaded guilty to felony manslaughter charges.
Gabriel John Maestretti, 22; Jerry Ming Lim, 25; John Paul Fickes, 20; and Carlos James DeVilla Abrille, 23, are currently serving their sentences in jail, which range from 90 days to one year.
Now Carrington's parents are doing everything they can to end hazing, including changing hazing law.
"I'm just a mother that's grieving for her son," Smith said.
The same day Smith visited the four men in jail, the last two men involved in the hazing case were sentenced to jail time.
Two former Chi Tau men charged with misdemeanor hazing were sentenced to about a month in jail and two years of probation at a settlement conference at the Butte County Superior Court.
Trent Stiefvater, 21, pleaded guilty to the hazing charges and began serving 30 days in jail on Monday. Richard Joseph Hirth, 23, pleaded no contest to the hazing charges and will serve 45 days in jail beginning Dec. 7, said Superior Court Judge Steven Howell.
The maximum sentence could have been one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, District Attorney Mike Ramsey said.
The men followed suit with former Chi Tau member Michael Fernandes, 20, who pleaded no contest to misdemeanor hazing charges on Oct. 3 and received 30 days in jail, which he will serve after Jan. 1, 2006.
Fernandes received a lighter sentence because he was the first one to plead, Ramsey said.
Besides their jail time and probation, Stiefvater and Hirth will each pay a $500 fine, cooperate with any media anti-hazing outreach programs and write letters of apology to Carrington's parents, the judge said.
But Stiefvater and Hirth aren't the only ones apologizing to Carrington's parents.
At the jail, Maestretti, Lim, Fickes and Abrille apologized to Smith and said they never meant to hurt her son, she said.
They want to help and are excited about the documentary, Smith said.
Smith spoke to each of the men on the phone through Plexiglas windows and asked them to tell her stories about her son, she said.
It was the first time she had spoken to Maestretti. Smith said Maestretti wants to speak with her at colleges and high schools to tell people about the dangers and consequences of hazing.
"I was really touched by what Gabe (Maestretti) had to say," Smith said. "We're not the only victims. These guys are victims, too."
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