A Penn State fraternity where two members were already charged with physically and mentally abusing pledges is now facing an organizational criminal charge.
The Lambda Lambda chapter of Phi Beta Sigma was charged on Thursday by Ferguson Township police with one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to commit organizational hazing. Pennsylvania’s Timothy Piazza Antihazing Law, enacted in 2018 and named for the Penn State sophomore who died after an alcohol-fueled fraternity initiation, created the category of organizational hazing for prosecution of groups such as fraternities, sororities and clubs whose members are primarily students.
Phi Beta Sigma appears to be the first Penn State fraternity to be charged for organizational hazing under the Piazza Law.
Chapter dean Jacob D. Francis, 23, and president Jayson Archer, 20, were each charged in May with counts of physical and mental hazing and simple assault. A university spokesperson said at the time that the fraternity was placed on interim suspension in March, around the time a complaint that initiated the investigation was made, and that Archer and Francis were restricted from campus except to complete their spring semester finals in May.
The new complaint filed against the fraternity is largely the same as those filed against the two men, accusing Francis of punching new members in the chest, hitting them with a paddle and enforcing a daily regimen designed to isolate them from anyone outside the chapter. Archer is accused of endorsing and overseeing the alleged hazing in his leadership role.
An investigation began after Penn State received an anonymous complaint in March about hazing occurring at a residence on Farmstead Lane in Ferguson Township where Francis and Archer resided and which served as the Phi Beta Sigma house.
The complaint alleged that every night since October new members were told to go to the basement of the residence and had to answer questions about the fraternity. When they got an answer wrong they were hit with a paddle until they answered correctly, police wrote.
“The abuse escalated each night,” according to the complaint, and left the new members “fearful, humiliated and broken.”
Fraternity members told the initiates they had to prove they were willing to be “bloody LL,” referring to the chapter name Lambda Lambda, and “the implication was clear we had to bleed, both figuratively and literally, to be accepted,” according to the complaint.
New members had “physical complications as a result of hazing, including fainting,” according to the complaint.
“We’ve been made to feel that if we don’t endure this, we’re not worthy of being part of the fraternity,” the complainant wrote. “This is not brotherhood, it’s abuse. We can’t stay silent any longer. This has to stop.”
Pledges were also ordered to participate in sometime lengthy nightly workout sessions, told what they were allowed to wear and who they were allowed to converse with, were not allowed to speak to or make eye contact with chapter members in public, were told they couldn’t take to the fraternity’s adviser and were required to to share their phone locations with fraternity leaders, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Penn State identified three three Phi Beta Sigma recruits, who were subsequently interviewed.
The first, who police later identified as the anonymous complainant, said that new members were forced to go to the basement every night for “sets,” which included providing facts about the fraternity. If they did not get the information correct, they were “punished” by being struck on the buttocks with an approximately 24-inch long paddle “to the extent it causes bruising and discomfort to sit,” according to the affidavit. Sometimes new members would wear extra pants to avoid bruising, police wrote.
They were also struck with the paddle three times each at the start and end of every set, in addition to the strikes they received for providing incorrect information, the person identified as Victim 1 told police.
Punishment, which the alleged victim said was doled out by Francis, also included being punched in the chest 10 times with a closed fist, according to the affidavit. Archer was present for the sets, but his participation involved an “oversight role” and yelling at the new members, Victim 1 allegedly told police.
New members were “not allowed to talk to anyone” other than their fellow initiates and were required to share their phone locations with fraternity leaders to ensure they were “only going to class, work and sets,” according to the affidavit.
The required workout sessions in the basement of the house also resulted in punishments if not performed correctly, police wrote.
The two other new members identified by the university and named as Victims 2 and 3 by police denied ever being hazed or harmed, forced to share their location or participate in workouts or knowing what the term “bloody LL meant,” according to the affidavit. They claimed they had only been to the Farmstead Lane residence to hang out, had never been in the basement and that their only requirement was to complete five modules and an assessment, police wrote.
They also claimed that they were the only two members in their “line class.”
But a search and analysis of the first new member’s phone found conversations between all three about going to the Farmstead Lane residence and being punished for getting answers incorrect, according to the affidavit. Victim 2 acknowledged that the “punishments will be even worse” if they didn’t learn the information and later wrote that “I’m taking the hit for you tonight if we have the ability to,” police wrote.
He also wrote in another conversation that “If you get seriously hurt during this because the punishments are only going to get harder and the information we have to learn is only going to get harder, then you could put yourself and the fraternity at risk,” according to the affidavit.
Victim 3 wrote in one conversation that “We don’t have to think about dealing with that paddle for a few nights but that doesn’t mean we’re exempt from punishments,” according to the affidavit.
Police executed a search warrant on the Farmstead Lane residence and seized multiple paddles, along with Archer’s and Francis’s phones.
Text messages among fraternity members confirmed information provided by the person identified by police as Victim 1, according to the affidavit. Multiple texts from Francis referenced paddling and “sets,” police wrote. In a discussion about one new member not sharing his location, Archer allegedly instructed for him to share it.
The fraternity chapter was charged via summons, with Archer listed as the respondent in his role as president. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 13.
In their individual cases, Archer and Francis waived their preliminary hearings in June. Their next court date is a pre-trial conference scheduled for Sept. 15.
