Two plead guilty in fraternity prank

Two of the three fraternity pledges charged in a kidnapping prank last month pleaded guilty to summary offenses Wednesday, and the third is hoping to be placed in a probation program.

Three Penn State students were charged after State College police were dispatched to a reported kidnapping in progress behind Premiere Theatres, off Shiloh Road. Witnesses said they saw a man bound in duct tape being taken out of the trunk of a small red car and put into the back of a U-Haul truck.

Police found the U-Haul leaving the parking lot and surrounded it. Their guns drawn, they ordered 19-year-old Timothy Antoian from the driver's seat.

Antoian and two other pledges of Penn State fraternity Delta Tau Delta -- 19-year-old Lee A. Hugar and 18-year-old Chad G. Norris -- were charged with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. Hugar and Norris appeared in court Wednesday and pleaded guilty to summary offenses, according to District Judge Carmine Prestia.

Hugar, who also pleaded guilty to a minor's law violation, faces fines of up to $300, and his driver's license will be suspended. Norris also faces fines of up to $300.

"I don't think any of these kids ever dreamed this would cause the trouble it did," said attorney Joe Amendola, who represents all three of the men.

The men told police they were simply pulling a prank by "kidnapping" two fraternity brothers on Penn State's campus and taking them to the theater parking lot. From there, they said, they were heading to another Delta Tau Delta chapter at a university in Virginia for the weekend.

Antoian admitted to purchasing alcohol found in the back of the U-Haul with his older brother's ID, according to court records, and also was charged with furnishing alcohol to minors and carrying a false identification card, both misdemeanors.

Amendola said Antoian, who waived his right to a preliminary hearing last week, is hoping to be placed on accelerated rehabilitative disposition, a program geared toward first-time offenders as an alternative to jail time.

"None of them have any prior record," Amendola said.

Centre Daily Times | 04/28/2005 | Two plead guilty in fraternity prank