4 surrender in fraternity pledge’s death

Four young men in San Luis Obispo surrendered Thursday to face charges alleging that a fraternity hazing ritual caused the alcohol death of a university freshman from Texas, police said.

Carson Starkey, 18, of Austin was found dead in December with a blood-alcohol level between 0.39% and 0.44%.

Police said he had to drink a bag full of alcoholic beverages as part of the fraternity pledging process.

“This investigation has exposed a ritual that was as disturbing as it was deadly,” Police Chief Deborah Linden said. “Carson’s death was the result of a crime and it was entirely preventable.”

Haithem Ibrahim, 20, of Lafayette, Calif., and Zacary Ellis, 22, of San Luis Obispo were charged with felony hazing causing death. Russell Taylor, 22, of Fresno, and Adam Marszal, 21, of Carmichael, Calif., were charged with misdemeanor hazing. All four Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students face a misdemeanor charge of permitting a minor to consume alcohol.

Starkey was pledging the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, which has since been suspended.

According to fraternity tradition, the pledges participated in “brown bag night,” in which a “big brother” purchased alcohol and put it in a brown bag for each pledge to consume, police said.

Ibrahim was Starkey’s “big brother,” but because he was not yet 21, Taylor allegedly purchased the alcohol on his behalf.

Police said the alcohol included 151-proof Everclear.

On the night of Dec. 1, the pledges gathered in a garage that fraternity members had prepared with tarps on the furniture and a bucket for vomit, police said.

The 17 pledges sat in a circle around the bucket and Ellis allegedly instructed them to drink all the alcohol in their bags by midnight.

The “big brothers” watched while the pledges drank.

The investigation found that when Starkey passed out, several fraternity members put him in a car to take him to a hospital -- removing his pledge pin so he wouldn’t be associated with the fraternity -- but that he began vomiting, so they took him back to the house and put him to bed.

Police said the members checked on him until everyone went to bed about 2 a.m.

When he was found unresponsive the next morning, fraternity members allegedly shooed other pledges out of the house before police and paramedics arrived.

Ibrahim and Ellis were released on $50,000 bail and face up to three years in state prison if convicted of the felonies.

Taylor and Marszal were released on $10,000 bail and face up to a year in county jail if convicted of the misdemeanors.

Attempts to contact their attorneys on Thursday afternoon were not successful.