NEWS

On Oct. 17, Nicholas Letteri, a member of the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon (Sig Ep), was kidnapped from his on-campus apartment by the chapter’s vice president and taken to a house where he was tied up and “hazed.”

After the incident, which involved binge-drinking, the FAU chapter of Sig Ep was suspended until further investigation.

According to a police report, Letteri was picked up by fraternity brother Ben Roy at his apartment in Building 58 on the Boca campus, when Roy claimed they had events to plan for Sig Ep.

After they drove off, Roy stopped the car and said, “Nick, you’ve been kidnapped.” Several fraternity members then opened the car door and grabbed Letteri, making sure they took his belongings so he couldn’t escape, and drove to another frat brother, Kevin Wyne’s, house.

Letteri told police that, once he arrived at the house, he was tackled by members of Sig Ep and had his hands and feet duct-taped together.

According to Letteri, kidnapping is a game fraternities play in order to build brotherhood.

“Someone gets kidnapped, and we have a scavenger hunt so the younger brothers will try to find the person that was kidnapped,” Letteri explained in the police report. “I knew the person kidnapped would have to drink alcohol, and I understood that.”

When Letteri was kidnapped, he hadn’t eaten all day and asked for something to eat before the hazing began. Members of the fraternity made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and gave him a cereal bowl containing beer mixed with some sort of alcohol.

The fraternity then gave him shots and told him to “drink up.”

“Straight after, they brought squirt guns and sprayed me in the crotch, face and chest area,” explained Letteri in the police report.

Letteri wasn’t the only one kidnapped; Nevin Custodio was also brought to the house, where he was tied with rope.

After getting sprayed repeatedly with the squirt guns, Letteri was able to free his feet from the duct tape and tried to escape. He asked Custodio if he wanted to leave, but Custodio declined, claiming he was having a good time.

Letteri said he eventually blacked out from drinking too much alcohol and woke up in a different house, wearing different clothes.

The following day, Letteri was sick, and, according to the police report, continued to vomit throughout the day. Around 10 p.m., his roommate and Victoria Hammonds brought him to the Boca Raton Community Hospital emergency room,where he was given intravenous fluids.

According to Judy Letteri, Nicholas’ mother, no tests at the hospital were conducted for drug or blood alcohol levels.

In the police report, Letteri later explains he’s been a part of the fraternity since spring 2008 and participated in a kidnapping before.

“It is done in an attempt to build brotherhood and leaders; that’s why we have scavenger hunts. We would give them drinks, and they would say it’s horrible, and we would make it better,” explained Letteri.

Sig Ep has been a part of FAU’s Greek system since 1994. The university is conducting an investigation of the hazing incident and will make a decision about the fate of the fraternity chapter in January. According to the law, hazing can be a first-degree misdemeanor or a third-degree felony.

Check back with the UP for further investigation. Click here to download the police report.