http://bi.gs/online-dating-sorority-sex-scandal/2006/04/11/By JENNIFER MORGAN
jmorgan@bi.gs Published: April 11, 2006
TAMPA - This morning, Tampa Police raided the Sigma Delta Pi sorority house at Westborn College. Twenty three women age 19-24 were arrested on charges that included pandering, hazing violations, racketeering, and recording sexual acts without the permission of the participants.
As part of the initiation into the sorority, each of the 36 pledges were “required to have sex or oral sex on a first date with 7 partners in a two week period†according to district attorney Michael Watts. “These [partners] had to be men they did not know chosen from a popular online dating service. There is evidence that at least 2 of the senior girls in the sorority received in excess of $2500 in checks from men who were pre-selected as sex-dates for the pledges.â€
It is suspected that all 36 of the pledges who are now Sigma Delta Pi sisters went on sex-dates with a total of more than 250 different men. Two of the dates are reported to have been with high school seniors from nearby Shelby High School.
According to reports, at least 3 men were informed of the hazing ritual. They then created profiles at the online dating site and paid the senior sorority girls to encourage the pledges to select them. These three men have been taken into custody and police expect more arrests to be made by the conclusion of the investigation.
At the scene, police seized computers that had more than 20 hours of digital videos recordings of the pledges engaged in sexual intercourse in the sorority house. The videos were apparently recorded without the knowledge of the male partners via a web cam mounted on a computer monitor. The records of the online dating service have also been subpoenaed.
Last year’s track and field triple gold medal winner Lisa Danie was among the girls arrested.
A tearful Coach Kolowski lamented, “I just don’t see how Lisa was involved in something like this. I don’t think we’re gonna have a chance at winning the Division C title this year without her. She is our star. She can't be guilty - I just know she's innocent."
Paula Rogers, spokesperson for Westborn College, stated “This is not a accurate reflection of the students or Christian teachings at Westborn College. Hazing is a very serious offense and we have a zero-tolerance policy for that kind of behavior. The Sorority’s official status has been revoked and the girls who were arrested have been suspended pending the outcome of a full investigation. We're going to get to the bottom of all this.â€
The arrests concluded a 1-month investigation that involved the Tampa Bay Police Department and the CDC (Center For Disease Control). According to reports, many of the girls were having unprotected sex and the CDC was called in because of potential health concerns. Some outraged parents are asking why action wasn’t taken sooner, but police officials insist that they acted as soon as they had collected enough evidence to press charges.