Sigma Chi - Chico: "initiation week"

[hoosier]

June 14, 2005 - 12:01:38 AM PST

Hazing alleged in near-fatal alcohol overdose

By TERRY VAU DELL - Staff Writer

OROVILLE - The mother of an underage Butte College student suggested in court Monday that her son's near-fatal alcohol overdose in February may have been part of a fraternity hazing.

Richard Amador, 19, was rushed to a Chico hospital Feb. 20 with a reported .496 percent blood alcohol level nearly six times the legal limit.

Prosecutors confirmed Monday "some hazing may have occurred" in connection with the alcohol overdose, but there was not enough evidence to file criminal charges.

On Monday, Kevin Hallmeyer, 21, a Chico State University senior and member of Sigma Chi fraternity, pleaded "no contest" to two misdemeanor counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor one of them causing "bodily injury or death." Eight additional counts were dismissed.

In offering the plea bargain to the Chico fraternity member, deputy district attorney Kurt Worley said he had taken into account the fact that Hallmeyer had taken the dangerously intoxicated student to the hospital and has since been actively involved in an education campaign on campus to promote responsible student drinking.

Hallmeyer, who tearfully hugged the victim's mother outside of court Monday, will serve two months in jail and also must perform 24 hours of community service as a condition of probation ordered by assigned Superior Court Judge William Lamb.

A July 18 hearing has been set for the judge to determine how much restitution should be paid to the binge-drinking victim.

Reading from a prepared statement at Hallmeyer's court hearing Monday, Valerie Amador told the judge when her son was taken off life-support systems after two days in the hospital, family members asked him why he drank so much.

She quoted her son as telling her that if the pledges didn't finish the first gallon of vodka, "Hallmeyer would make us drink another gallon."

Asked why he "didn't stand up and refuse," her teenage son told her he felt he wouldn't be admitted into the Chico fraternity.

The student's mother told the judge Monday she could no longer "keep her mouth shut" and allow her son to continue to be characterized in the media as just another drunk college student.

Turning to the defendant in court, the teen's mother told Hallmeyer: "Ricky didn't ask you to buy that alcohol and it almost killed him."

"I'm sorry," the Chico State student whispered back to the victim's mother.

Asked about the assertion that the underage pledges were made to drink alcohol as part of a fraternity initiation, Hallmeyer's Sacramento attorney, Bill Portanova, replied, "If there was evidence of that, he'd have been charged with it."

"The Chico college scene has been awash in alcohol for years," noted the defense attorney, who credited the District Attorney's Office for "striking a fair balance" in Hallmeyer's case.

"Kevin Hallmeyer wakes up every morning thanking God that he took him (Amador) to the hospital and that his life was saved."

Hallmeyer declined comment as to the mother's allegations that the underage pledges were required to drink to get into the Chico fraternity.

According to Worley, who prosecuted the case, 10 underage Sigma Chi pledges were sheet-rocking a backyard structure during "initiation week" at the Chico fraternity house when Hallmeyer was given money to purchase alcohol.

"We believe some hazing did occur," said the prosecutor. But he added there was "insufficient corroboration" to support the charge.

Sigma Chi was placed under suspension pending an investigation by Chico State University, the results of which have not been made public.

The near-fatality took place less than three weeks after a 21-year-old Chico State student, Michael Carrington, died after allegedly being made to drink large amounts of water while performing rigorous exercises as part of a fraternity pledge ritual.

Seven members of the defunct Chi Tau fraternity are facing hazing charges and four of them are also accused of manslaughter in connection with Carrington's death.