by Jody P. Bethel
Staff Writer
Discovery of a dead cat on junior Aung Wun’s E Street apartment doorstep early Monday morning has allegedly been traced as a Phi Delta Theta fraternity prank.
Wun, a Phi Delta Theta member, and his girlfriend, sophomore Janet Torres, were interrupted from studying around 1:30 a.m. by noises described by Torres as “knocking and desperate banging on the door, the noise of plastic bags and the sound of several people running down the hall.”
After speaking with neighbors and a former Phi Delta Theta member, Alex Martinez, Wun called the La Verne Police Department (LVPD).
Just minutes after Wun spoke with Martinez, Albert Montoya, pledge master of Phi Delta Theta, appeared at Martinez’s door, asking whether Wun had been there.
“This left me suspicious,” said Martinez, who said he felt “let down” because he is still friends with some of his ex-brothers.
“We don’t want to disclose who was there or who did it, because legal actions that [Wun] could pursue later,” said Phi Delta Theta President Gilbert Gomez, a senior.
Wun, who had headphones on at the time while studying for his music class, did not hear the noises, but was asked by Torres to investigate them.
Upon opening the door, Wun saw a dead black and white cat with severe injuries to the head, “like a car ran over it,” said Wun.
Due to the fact that a key is needed to get into the gated apartments, Wun became curious about how the cat arrived on his doorstep.
Martinez felt that the dead cat might have a disease, and was both unsanitary and unhealthy to the residence. He also thought the elderly residents might fear that some form of sacrifices were being performed in the apartment complex.
Angered by the incident, Martinez threw away his memorabilia related to the fraternity, which included placing a Phi Delta Theta t-shirt over the cat. He said it was a symbol of his feelings about what these members may have done. He later removed the shirt before police arrived.
According to Wun, LVPD sent out a unit within 10 minutes of Wun calling, and Officer Mark Baca questioned whether breaking and entering may have occurred.
However, Wun, who said he checked the premises after the incident occurred, found no signs of a break in.
The LVPD police log refers to the incident as “harassment,” and a “fraternity prank.”
The fraternity has planned a meeting for Sunday to discuss the incident. Wun plans to take the incident to the Greek Review Board for further evaluation.
When asked what measures the fraternity would take when it went to the Greek Review Board, Gomez said, “It doesn’t have to do with the campus.”
Baca gave Wun the option to discard the cat himself or leave it until the morning, when the Humane Society could take care of it. Wun opted for the the latter.
Montoya was confronted by Wun that night, and according to Wun, he responded that he knew nothing of the incident, and did not know whether the fraternity’s pledges had anything to do with it. Montoya said he would ask his pledges about what had occurred.
Martinez said he saw two pledges in Montoya’s room earlier Sunday night.
Monday evening, Wun said he confronted Montoya again, wanting to know if he found anything out from his pledges.
Wun said, quoting Montoya, “‘I didn’t know anything this morning, but I know a little bit now. But I don’t want to get involved and am upset that you called the police.'”
Wun believes Montoya was upset because he felt discussion of the incident needed to stay within the fraternity.
“I don’t consider it a funny matter,” said Wun. “I was really upset to have a dead cat at my door at one in the morning.”
Later Monday night, active members, along with pledges, went to Wun’s apartment to discuss the matter with him. Wun called Martinez and Torres to sit in on the discussion, so as to not feel out-numbered.
Wun said the brothers did not come to apologize about the cat, but rather to tell their sides of the story, as well as to make Wun conform with what they felt was the truth.
During the course of the discussion, Wun said that Phi Delta Theta member Dan Ferguson “admitted that he and Gilbert [Gomez] did it. He said they found the cat at Albertson’s and decided to choose me as a person to play a joke on.”
Gomez was not present at the discussion.
Ferguson also professed that pledges had nothing to do with the incident.
Martinez quoted Ferguson as saying, “We were just having good college fun.”
When later asked for comment, Ferguson said, “I’m referring only to Gil, Gilbert Gomez, president of Phi Delta Theta. Nothing else, all right?”
Torres said she heard more then two sets of footsteps running down the hall, and it sounded like “several people running.”
Wun feels the fraternity’s good reputation does not match the action done to him.
“All I know is Phi Delta Theta did it. [It was] enough to wipe out any good feelings I had for the fraternity,” said Martinez.
Wun said he chose to pledge Phi Delta Theta because he felt it was the best fraternity for getting to know what Greek life was all about.
