Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity is pressing charges against a member of another fraternity for a residential burglary that occurred early Tuesday morning.
The suspect, a resident of the Delta Upsilon house at 1318 W. Fredonia Ave., was taken to Peoria County Jail after admitting to entering the Pike residence, 706 Institute Place, illegally.
At about 3 a.m. Tuesday morning, a University Police officer observed a large wooden crest, Pike’s emblem, in the middle of the street at the Fredonia and Institute Place. The officer contacted Pike President Eric Steinhardt and Pike member Ardon Lukasiewicz, who said they hadn’t seen any suspects. The crest was returned to the house.
Police were later dispatched to the house around 5:30 a.m. on a call that Pike members had detained a member of DU found inside the house.
The suspect entered the house through an unlocked, ground-floor window, according to police reports.
Once inside, the suspect took a red light from the top of a bar, a speaker, a blacklight and a small wooden boat steering wheel, all from the basement of Pike. He used a large duffel bag to transport the stolen items from Pike back to the DU house, where he left them on his bed, according to police reports.
The suspect returned to the Pike house later, but Lukasiewicz apprehended him.
Lukasiewicz was up at about 5:30 a.m. when he heard a door open in the hallway. He went out to investigate and saw a male wearing a dark sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his face. Lukasiewicz called to the male, but received no response. The male ran out of the house, and Lukasiewicz pursued him heading east on Fredonia, according to police reports.
When Lukasiewicz caught up with the male, he recognized him as a member of DU. Lukasiewicz brought the suspect back to the Pike house, where members of the fraternity detained him while waiting for BUPD.
The suspect admitted to BUPD officers he took items from the house but he said he was not involved in stealing the Pike crest. He said he entered the Pike house because members from Pike did a similar thing to the DU house a few weeks ago. He also said he entered the house and took the items alone, according to reports.
The suspect was arrested for two counts of residential burglary and transported to Peoria County Jail by Peoria police.
Lukasiewicz told BUPD he noticed another DU member outside the Pike house during the burglary.
The second member gave a voluntary statement to BUPD after the incident that he and another member of his fraternity accompanied the first suspect to Pike that night.
The second suspect said in his statement the first suspect made the decision to enter the Pike house and take items. He told police he never entered the home, but another DU member entered the house with the first suspect and removed the stolen items. The second suspect also said he helped a DU member take the stolen items back to the DU house and then returned to Pike, where the first suspect entered again and took a tabletop bearing a Pike slogan that was bolted to the wall.
The three took the tabletop to a private residence, according to the statement, then returned to Pike for a third time, during which time the first suspect was apprehended.
Steinhardt said the fraternity contacted a lawyer and will be pressing charges against the first suspect.
The Peoria County Jail was unable to confirm if the suspect was there at press time.
“We want [the suspects] to feel the ramifications of their actions,” Steinhardt said.
Executive Director of Residential Living and Leadership Nathan Thomas said the incident will be handled by both DU and the university.
“DU is handling it internally with the involved members,” he said. “And the university will go through the student judicial process for those involved also.”
DU President Mike Manseau issued a statement Wednesday night to the Scout commenting on the situation.
“The events that took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning between [a DU member] and Pi Kappa Alpha were unfortunate and were not, are not and will not be encouraged by this fraternity,” he said.
