The former Delta Tau Delta president of FAU’s Iota Nu chapter, Alex Fanaian, was arrested Sunday for burglary and aggravated battery.
Boca resident David Deal thought he heard gunshots early Sunday morning, but instead found the senior computer science major naked outside his house, banging on his front door and then spraying a fire extinguisher at the window next to the door, according to the police report.
Boca PD arrived at 308 NE 8th St. at 4:34 a.m. and found Fanaian’s hands bound behind his back with metal hangers. Deal, 52, said he had to wrestle him to the ground after the 23-year-old sprayed Deal and struck his chest with the fire extinguisher, according to the police report. (To see the full police report, check the bottom of the story.)
“I attempted to speak with Fanaian but he was not making sensible statements,” Officer J.A. Martz wrote in the police report.
Fanaian was taken to Boca Regional Hospital when the Boca Fire Department arrived at the scene.
Police spoke with Logan Haas, the resident of the house across the street from Deal’s. Haas said that Fanaian lived there with him, and had been drinking alcohol earlier that night at Delray Beach and Blue Martini in Boca Raton, according to police.
Haas also told police he did not know that Fanaian tried to break into Deal’s house.
“His actions do not reflect the actions or values of Delta Tau Delta,” Student Body President Robert Huffman, another former Delta Tau Delta president and three-year roommate of Fanaian, wrote in a text message to the UP.
Michael Chase, the current president of the Iota Nu chapter, denied comment on the situation since Fanaian is not part of the current chapter.
“It is his own individual issue so it is not right for me to comment on the situation,” he wrote in an email.
The UP reached out to Keith Lembree, FAU’s advisor for Greek Life, about how the school plans to address this issue. As of publication time, Lembree has not responded.
According to the police report, Fanaian was charged with burglary and aggravated battery for trying to break into Deal’s house and striking him with a “deadly weapon.”
He was held at the Palm Beach County jail and released on Monday with a $30,000 bail, according to the Sun Sentinel.
