Man pleads not guilty to assault charge in Santulli hazing case

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A fraternity member accused in the Danny Santulli hazing case pleaded not guilty to an assault charge on Monday.

Ryan Delanty, 22, of Ballwin, was charged with felony hazing, second-degree assault and supplying alcohol to a minor. The assault charge was added last month after a superseding indictment was filed on Oct. 20.

Santulli was left disabled following an alleged hazing incident at Phi Gamma Delta in 2021. Santulli was left unable to walk, talk or see after suffering a traumatic brain injury that night.

Delanty appeared in court by video. The next hearing will take place Monday, Dec. 4.

A number of accused fraternity members have taken plea deals:

• Harrison Reichman, 21, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty to giving alcohol to a minor. He was initially charged with hazing – life endangerment. He was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation, along with 100 hours of community services and 15 days of shock jail time.
• Thomas A. Shultz, of Chesterfield, Missouri, pleaded guilty to supplying alcohol to a minor. He was sentenced to a year of probation and 30 days of shock jail time.
• Samuel Gandhi, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty to supplying alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor He was originally charged with felony hazing. He was sentenced to 15 days of shock time in the county jail, two years of probation and 100 hours of community service. He will also have to complete a court-ordered drug and alcohol treatment program.
• Alec Bradley Wetzler, 21, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in April to supplying liquor to a minor and buying liquor as a minor, both misdemeanors. He was sentenced earlier this month to to two years of probation, with a suspended sentence of 180 days in jail. He was also ordered to two days of shock jail time. 
• Samuel Morrison, 23, of Cameron, pleaded guilty on Sept. 1 to supplying alcohol to a minor. He was initially charged with felony hazing. Morrison was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation with a one-year suspended sentenced. He was also ordered to two days of shock jail time and will have to complete 100 hours of community service.
• Blake Morsovillo, of Springfield, Missouri, pleaded guilty in court to supplying alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor. He was previously charged with felony hazing. He was sentenced to serve two years of unsupervised probation and two days of shock jail time, which will begin Saturday, Oct. 28. He will also have to complete an alcohol and drug program and do 100 hours of community service.

Other Fiji members are expected to go to trial:

• Benjamin Parres, 21, of Chesterfield has a pretrial conference set for 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 8. A jury trial is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23. He is charged with felony hazing.
• Benjamin Karl, 21, of Columbia, was charged with felony hazing. A jury will be pooled from Warren County. A pretrial conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 4. A three-day jury trial is set to begin 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9.