A US Secret Service agent and two other men have been arrested after Florida investigators uncovered evidence of alleged hazing incidents involving prolonged and repeated beatings with canes and paddles in Miami.
Marquez Christopher Pinder, 29, was arrested on Sunday. Jared Lamar James, 26, and Elijah Delano Dyous, 29, were also arrested for allegedly helping to orchestrate the beatings as part of a fraternity hazing ritual in April that left two people hospitalized with severe injuries.
Hazing incidents and injuries
Court documents said a University of Miami graduate student and another young man had injuries that could have been fatal without treatment. One victim required skin grafts to his backside and suffered kidney damage; the other had a tube placed in his windpipe to help him breathe.
Charges against the three men include felony counts of hazing with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with great bodily harm and attempted manslaughter.
“In Florida, hazing is abuse and it is a crime,” Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. “Its victims too often lie in their graves and in hospital beds.”
According to the Miami Herald, the beatings occurred after the victims failed to correctly answer questions related to initiation into the Miami chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, a historically Black fraternity where Pinder served as a “dean of pledges.”
The alleged hazing began on 1 April at an apartment in the Sweetwater district near Florida International University, though the graduate student victim was not affiliated with FIU. The hazing continued for two more days at that location before moving to another residence for a fourth day.
Warrant details and medical records
The beatings stopped on the fourth night when one victim had blood seeping through his pants, and the fraternity leaders ordered the victims to strip and place their clothes in garbage bags, according to a warrant. The warrant said injuries to one alleged victim “would have resulted in renal failure leading to death,” while the second denied being paddled but acknowledged receiving emergency medical care. Medical records showed he was hospitalized with injuries to his backside and “was intubated during his stay in the hospital to prevent further physical deterioration and death.”
History of hazing deaths in Florida
Rundle referenced Chad Meredith, a University of Miami baseball recruit who died in 2001 while pledging Kappa Sigma, and Robert Champion, who died after being pummeled by fellow members of Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 band. Andrew Coffey died after pledging Pi Kappa Phi at Florida State University after being assigned to drink a bottle of bourbon.
“Among some, fraternity hazing might be seen as a tradition creating a sense of belonging and brotherhood, but since 2001, hazing in Florida has killed Chad Meredith, Robert Champion and Andrew Coffey while seriously injuring others,” Rundle said. “This case, with the victims requiring hospitalization, provides clear-cut examples of hazing’s danger.”
Pinder’s employment and defense
Pinder, a 2021 Florida International University graduate, was assigned to the US Secret Service’s Miami field office and first employed by the service in 2023, according to his LinkedIn page. His attorney, Justin Beckham, described the case as “grossly overcharged.”
A Secret Service spokesman said “any misconduct will be addressed swiftly and appropriately upon completion of the investigative and judicial process.”
In a separate, unrelated case, a Secret Service spokesperson publicly said an agent assigned to Vice-President JD Vance’s protective detail became “the subject of an administrative investigation, and potential criminal inquiry, involving allegations of compromising operational and information security.” CNN reported that the agent came under suspicion after allegedly providing information that appeared in an MS Now report about Vance’s planned Marine Corps helicopter trip with his son.
