Frat Member Charged In Alleged Peanut Butter Hazing

ROCHESTER HILLS, MI — Andrew Seely is lucky to be alive. A few short months ago, the college student had peanut butter smeared on his face and awoke to find his eyes nearly swollen shut, his nose and lips blown up and his face red. Seely — who is extremely allergic to peanuts and let everyone in his Central Michigan University fraternity know well before the October 2016 incident — was the victim of an alleged prank.

As a result, Rochester Hills resident Dale Merza has been charged with misdemeanor hazing in connection with the incident and could get up to 93 days in jail, plus a $1,000 fine if he's convicted. The 20-year-old was arraigned Friday in Isabella County District Court, according to a Detroit Free Press report.

Seely, who has since transferred from CMU, didn’t report the incident to his parents until last month. His mother, Teresa Seely, followed up with college police, who subsequently launched an investigation into the incident.

“He could have been killed,” she wrote in a March Facebook post that went viral, the Free Press reported. “Our family is devastated. We thought we were sending our child off to school in a safe environment, and obviously that wasn’t the case. He could have died from this. He has a deadly peanut allergy.”

Merza’s lawyer said he believes his client is innocent of the charge. "I'm confident that once the facts are laid out in court, Mr. Merza will be found not guilty of any kind of hazing. This case has been blown way out of proportion by the individual's family members, who were not present and don't have any of the facts," attorney Bruce Leach told the Free Press. "Mr. Merza has never been in trouble before in his life. I don't believe he'll be convicted."

A potential settlement conference has been scheduled for April 19.

The incident happened at Alpha Chi Rho, an-off campus fraternity that was banned from official recognition in 2011 for hazing incidents, the Free Press reported. CMU officials said the fraternity’s bid for reinstatement last fall was denied.

The National Fraternity of Alphi Chi Rho condemned the incident in a statement, noting the CMU chapter is not recognized by the national fraternity: “Alpha Chi Rho is appalled and upset by the actions taken by individuals against Andrew Seely. … Alpha Chi Rho does not condone this type of behavior — or any form of hazing — and it stands in conflict with our mission to cultivate men of character, honor and integrity,” the Free Press reported.

Whether Merza is convicted or not, it was a nearly tragic event for Seely, of Marysville, Michigan, and his family. According to a Washington Post report, peanuts can be life-threatening to those allergic. For some, even a tiny whiff can cause a severe reaction just minutes after exposure, according to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Peanut allergies can cause anaphylaxis, a medical emergency that requires treatment with an epinephrine injector, such as an EpiPen, and a trip to the emergency room, the newspaper reported.

Seely’s father told CBS News that his son “made it very clear” to everyone in the fraternity house that he had a peanut allergy and carries an Epi-Pen and Benadryl tablets with him at all times. Despite that, fraternity brothers told WDIV Television that the incident was nothing more than a prank, college kids being college kids.

“He told them they couldn’t eat anything with peanuts around him,” Seely’s father said in an interview with CBS. “He wears a medical bracelet. For this individual to think that it was just a joke is hard for us to comprehend. That’s a form of protection on his part to say that he was just joking,” he added. “If the frat guys did this and they saw him having a reaction why didn’t they call 911?”

Photo by Denise Krebs via Flickr Commons