WATCH: Secret Service Agent Marquez Pinder Charged With Five Felonies in Hazing Case
A Secret Service agent has been arrested in Miami after authorities say a fraternity hazing incident turned violent and left victims hospitalized.
The agent was identified as 29-year-old Marquez Christopher Pinder. According to Miami-Dade officials, Pinder was one of three men arrested in connection with the alleged beatings. The other two suspects were identified as 26-year-old Jared Lamar James and 29-year-old Elijah Delano Dyous.
Authorities say the victims were beaten with canes and paddles during the alleged hazing. Prosecutors said the beatings were prolonged and repeated. The victims were reportedly punished after failing to correctly answer questions tied to the fraternity.
The case is serious. Pinder is facing five felony charges, including attempted manslaughter with a deadly weapon, hazing with a deadly weapon, and other related counts. The charges also include allegations tied to aggravated battery with a deadly weapon causing great bodily harm, according to the state attorney’s office.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, and Sweetwater Police Chief Sergio Diez announced details of the arrests. Investigators said the incidents began on April 1 at an apartment in the 400 block of Southwest 183rd Street in unincorporated Miami-Dade County.
The college and fraternity involved have not been publicly identified by authorities in the initial reporting. However, RealClearPolitics reporter Susan Crabtree previously reported that the fraternity members accused in the hazing incident were affiliated with Kappa Alpha Psi, a historically black fraternity.
Crabtree also reported last month that a Secret Service agent was under criminal investigation over a fraternity hazing and paddling incident that was so severe one pledge was sent to the hospital with kidney damage.
WATCH:
Pinder was booked into a Miami jail on Sunday, according to the report. The case now moves through the court system, where prosecutors will have to prove the allegations. For now, the charges alone paint a grim picture of what authorities say happened behind closed doors during what should never have turned into a near-fatal initiation ritual.
Crabtree posted an update on X after the arrest, writing: “????????BREAKING: Secret Service Agent Marquez Pinder was arrested and charged today with five felonies in a near-fatal hazing incident that took place in April, according to court documents.”
https://x.com/susancrabtree/status/2081557157104017490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw