Make wishtv.com your home page

Purdue fraternity suspended after reported rape

Purdue fraternity suspended

News 8 at 11 p.m.

FRANKFORT, Ind. (WLFI) — A fraternity and a student at Purdue University have been suspended after a reported rape at an event in Clinton County.

The Interfraternity Council suspended Sigma Tau Gamma pending a further investigation. A news release from Purdue said the fraternity was the host of an event Saturday night on Clinton County Road 0 North South. That’s about a mile west of Frankfort.

Clinton County Sheriff’s Office deputies said they were called to a Lafayette hospital where a woman identified her attacker as 18-year-old Richard Chan, originally from New Jersey. Deputies then went to his West Lafayette home and arrested him, according to the sheriff’s office.

Purdue said Chan, a freshman, has been suspended from the university, pending further investigation.

Chan was taken to the Clinton County Jail and faces a preliminary felony rape charge. Online court records on Monday showed no case has been filed against Chan. He was released from jail by late Monday afternoon, online records show.

Purdue said the student victim is receiving support and care.

The suspension is an interim action while the investigation is underway, according to Interfraternity Council President Nathan Longo. All chapter activities have stopped. Longo said the Interfraternity Council uses the interim suspension in any situation that significantly jeopardizes the health and safety of a member or guest.

Longo said the chapter’s status at Purdue will be determined after the investigation and potential adjudication are completed.

“The Interfraternity Council and its associated council counterparts have numerous policies and procedures in place to prevent these types of situations from occurring,” Longo wrote in response to WLFI News 18. “As a community, we stay fully committed to the continual education, training, prevention, and enforcement of such polices and issues.”

News 18, a WISH-TV News 8 newsgathering partner, reached out to Sigma Tau Gamma but had not heard back by late Monday afternoon.

https://www.facebook.com/TrevorPetersWLFI/photos/a.309285266214641/718013612008469

Crime Map
Use Search Bars Above To Search Crime Data