Fraternity pledge dad goes to jail for bullying incident at Mizzou. “It’s your fault.”

Danny Santulli’s parents, siblings and other family members spoke Friday at a hearing where a Boone County judge sentenced Santulli’s “Pledge Dad” Ryan Delanty, his fraternity “brother,” to six months in prison followed by six months of house arrest for two minor offenses.

“I lost my best friend,” said Santulli’s sister, Meredith Santulli. “It’s your fault.”

Delanty was one of nearly a dozen fraternity members charged in connection with a Phi Gamma Delta “Pledge Dad Reveal” party in October 2021. At the party, Danny was pressured to drink a liter of vodka and then left unconscious with a blood-alcohol level nearly six times the legal limit in Missouri.

The story garnered national attention and highlighted the practices of sorority houses where “newbies” who are not yet members must endure hazing on the way to joining the organization. Across the country, dozens of people have been injured or killed after drinking or doing other things while trying to join a sorority.

Delanty did not comment in court on Friday. However, his lawyer Stephanie Fortus said her client had expressed “nothing but remorse.”

“He is devastated by what happened that night and his family is devastated,” she said. “The suffering is everywhere.”

Danny’s older sister, Meredith Santulli, said she dropped her brother off at the sponsorship announcement event at the fraternity house on campus in October 2021, not knowing it would be the last time she would see him leave.

She said she witnessed her brother’s transformation in the months after he started school at Mizzou: a once positive, happy person began to suffer psychologically. She didn’t realize it at the time, she said, but the fraternity initiation process took its toll.

The members bossed him around and humiliated him, forced him to drink and “brainwashed him into thinking this is what a fraternity should be like,” said Danny’s brother Nick Santulli.

During the unveiling party, Delanty handed Danny a liter of Tito’s vodka and told him to drink it, according to a lawsuit the Santullis filed against the fraternity and several members in 2022. Another member poured beer into his mouth using a funnel and hose.

Then the members made Danny sit on a couch with a blood alcohol level of 0.468%. Eventually, he slipped off the couch and his face was on the floor. His skin was pale and his lips were blue, the lawsuit says.

His brothers drove him to the hospital, but Danny’s heart had already stopped beating. He survived, but suffered severe brain damage.

The fraternity was expelled from campus and Danny’s family filed a civil lawsuit against the fraternity and 23 of its members, which was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Nearly a dozen fraternity members were later charged, including Delanty and Thomas Shultz of Chesterfield.

Meanwhile, Danny Santulli spent several months in Denver, Colorado, receiving further treatment. There, doctors told his family he would likely never walk or talk again, said Danny’s mother, Mary Pat Santulli.

“So much was taken from my son,” she said. Still, she said, Danny’s spirit is still there. She is now his full-time caregiver, managing medications, doctor’s appointments and therapy.

Since the incident, few members of the fraternity have come forward to offer an apology, which Danny’s father, Tom Santulli, said is part of the organization’s “law of silence.”

Phi Gamma Delta even sent Danny a bill for overdue, unpaid dues, Tom Santulli said.

Schultz pleaded guilty in April to providing alcohol to a minor and was sentenced to two years of probation, including 30 days in jail, 100 hours of community service and participation in a drug and alcohol education program.

Other members of the fraternity have pleaded guilty to some offenses, and some cases are still pending.

Delanty was due to stand trial earlier this month on two charges, including aggravated malicious hazing, but he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of minor malicious hazing and minor furnishing alcohol to a minor. In return, he was recommended to serve six months in prison, followed by six months of house arrest.

Prosecutor Nick Komoroski said he tried to balance justice with punishment and hopes the prison sentence will serve as a deterrent to others considering similar racketeering.

“I wanted him to be held accountable for his actions,” he said.

Delanty’s lawyer Fortus said in court that her client had undergone therapy, taken medication and done his best to cope with the effects of his actions.

“Please understand that Mr. Delanty will live with this for the rest of his life,” she said.

Judge Kevin Crane then announced the verdict. Delanty was led away in handcuffs.