Frat Agrees to Plead Guilty to Code Violations

Cal State Fullerton’s Delta Chi fraternity, facing a 13-count criminal complaint for housing code violations, has tentatively agreed to plead guilty and have members serve a total of up to 5,000 hours of community work, according to both parties in the town-gown dispute.

The house had been charged by city officials with 48 fire, health, safety and building code violations. In exchange for Delta Chi’s guilty plea to 13 misdemeanor counts, City Atty. R. K. Fox said, the city will dismiss criminal action against the individual defendants. Named in charges filed last Friday were the house’s three owners, fraternity president Greg Linsmeier and alumni association president Robert Sandoval, Fox said.

In the tentative agreement, the city would suspend a $6,500 fine for three years on the condition that the fraternity corrects all the violations and no similar violations are found, Fox and Sandoval said.

Fraternity members also would have to serve 5,000 hours of volunteer work in Fullerton, Fox said. But that aspect of the agreement, Sandoval said, may hit a snag because with only 22 fraternity members, 5,000 hours translates to considerable volunteer work, he pointed out.

“We can’t set them up in a situation where they are working every weekend,” said Sandoval, adding that details on the agreement have yet to be worked out. Delta Chi alumni said they have worked to fix up the house and correct all violations throughout the year. In the 48 violations listed by the city, Sandoval said, there were at least eight electrical problems that already have been repaired and several others that he described as vague.

Earlier this month, the university withdrew its official recognition of the fraternity because of the group’s failure to comply with city regulations. That means Delta Chi members cannot identify the fraternity with the university, nor can they use the campus for any activity.