Fraternity ‘pledge dad’ gets jail time for Mizzou hazing incident. ‘You are to blame.’ (2024)

COLUMBIA — Unfettered peer pressure and a Mizzou fraternity’s “culture of silence” contributed to the 2021 hazing incident that left a student with a severe brain injury, his family said Friday.

Danny Santulli’s parents, siblings and extended family members spoke at a hearing Friday in which a Boone County judge sentenced Santulli’s fraternity “pledge dad,” Ryan Delanty, to six months in jail followed by six months of house arrest for two misdemeanor charges.

“I lost my best friend,” said Santulli’s sister, Meredith Santulli. “You are to blame for this.”

Delanty was one of nearly a dozen fraternity members charged in connection with a October 2021 Phi Gamma Delta “pledge dad reveal” party at which Danny was pressured to drink a liter of vodka and then left unconscious with a blood alcohol level nearly six times Missouri’s legal driving limit.

The story garnered national attention and shined a spotlight on fraternity practices that force “pledges” who are not yet members to endure hazing on the path to induction into the organization. Across the country, scores of people have suffered injuries or been killed after drinking or attempting other tasks while trying to join fraternities or sororities.

Delanty did not speak in court on Friday. But his attorney, Stephanie Fortus, said her client has expressed “nothing but remorse.”

“He has been devastated by what happened that night, and his family has been devastated,” she said. “The suffering is universal.”

Danny’s older sister, Meredith Santulli, said she dropped her brother off at the frat chapter house on campus in October 2021 for his pledge dad reveal event, not knowing it would be the last time she saw him walk away.

She said she had watched her brother change in the months after he started school at Mizzou: A once positive, happy person began to suffer mentally. She didn’t realize at the time, she said, but the fraternity pledge process was taking its toll.

Members ordered him around and belittled him. They forced him to drink and “brainwashed him into thinking this is what (a fraternity) should be,” said Danny’s brother, Nick Santulli.

During the reveal party, Delanty handed Danny a liter of Tito’s vodka and told him to drink it, according to a lawsuit filed by the Santullis against the fraternity and several members in 2022. Another member poured beer into his mouth with a funnel and a tube.

Members then left Danny sitting on a couch with a blood-alcohol level of .468%. He eventually slid off the couch, and his face was on the floor. His skin was pale and lips blue, the lawsuit says.

Fraternity brothers drove him to the hospital, but by then, Danny’s heart had stopped. He survived, with major brain damage.

The fraternity was expelled from campus, and Danny’s family filed a civil lawsuit against the fraternity and 23 members, which was settled out of court for an unspecified amount.

Nearly a dozen fraternity members were later charged in the incident, including Delanty and Thomas Shultz, of Chesterfield.

Meanwhile, Danny Santulli spent several months in Denver, Colorado, undergoing further treatment. It was there doctors told his family he would likely never walk or speak again, said Danny’s mother, Mary Pat Santulli.

“So much was taken from my son,” she said. Still, she said, Danny’s spirit remains. She is now his full-time caregiver, managing medications, doctors appointments and therapies.

Since the incident, few members of the fraternity reached out to offer an apology, which Danny’s father, Tom Santulli, said was part of the organization’s “code of silence.”

Phi Gamma Delta even sent Danny an invoice for overdue unpaid dues, Tom Santulli said.

Schultz pleaded guilty in April to supplying liquor to a minor and was sentenced to two years of probation, which included 30 days in jail, 100 hours of required community service and the completion of a drug and alcohol education program.

Other fraternity members have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, and some cases are still pending.

Delanty was set to face trial earlier this month on two charges, including felony hazing, but he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor hazing and misdemeanor supplying alcohol to a minor in exchange for a recommendation of six months in jail followed by six months of house arrest.

Prosecutor Nick Komoroski said he tried to balance fairness with punishment. He said he hoped the jail time served as a deterrent for others who may be considering similar hazing.

“I wanted him to be held accountable for his actions,” he said.

Delanty’s attorney, Fortus, said in court that her client has gone to therapy, taken medications and has tried his best to reckon with the impact of his actions.

“Know that Mr. Delanty will live with this the rest of his life,” she said.

Judge Kevin Crane then pronounced his sentence. Delanty was led away in handcuffs.