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June 28, 2003
Cops and Courts
Santa Cruz
Fraternity men plead innocent in koi death
Two UC Santa Cruz frat members accused of stealing and killing Midas the koi pleaded innocent to misdemeanor grand theft and malicious mischief charges Friday, court officials said.
The accused pranksters did not appear in court, rather their attorneys entered the pleas for Casey Loop and Matthew Cox. The next step is a July 11 status conference, court officials said.
Loop’s attorney is Paul Meltzer; Cox is represented by Greg Coben.
The men reportedly plucked the large reddish fish from a peaceful reflecting pond at Porter College on May 20 and then cooked Midas — also known as Goldie and Big Red — and fed the meat to pledges.
The university then banned the Delta Omega Chi fraternity, whose members were the subject of a MTV reality TV show at the time of the alleged crime.
The UCSC koi was thought to be 8 years old and worth an estimated $800. Though some koi live to be more than 50 years old, Midas was not so lucky.
The fish has been the subject of much discussion since its untimely demise — in national media, local letters to the editor, courtroom and other hallways and at the university, where poems and other memorials were erected in her memory.
The fish fatality could net the men community service to one year in County Jail.
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