South Elgin man charged with felony hazing in Indiana University frat incident

A South Elgin man is one of seven Indiana University fraternity members facing felony charges related to an October hazing incident that resulted in two pledges being hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.

Logan Conforti, 20, and six others have been charged with two counts of hazing, a felony in Indiana when it causes bodily harm, according to probable cause affidavits from the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office.

The Indiana University Office of Student Conduct filed a report with campus police as a result of the Oct. 15, 2025, incident in which fraternity pledges at the Bloomington school “were allegedly forced to complete various exhaustive exercises for an extended period. This hazing activity caused at least two pledges to develop symptoms of rhabdomyolysis,” the affidavits said.

The Cleveland Clinic website describes rhabdomyolysis as a rare, life-threatening condition in which muscles break down after an injury or excessive exercise without rest.

One of the injured men told authorities that three dozen pledges were forced to exercise for about three hours, the documents said. When they were done, 10 were directed to get into an ice bath and recite part of the fraternity’s creed.

The affidavits state that further investigation made clear the seven men now charged “knew that these activities posed a substantial risk of injury. This statement is supported by the fact that a meeting was called to discuss how to mitigate such risks as well as assignments being made to supervise the pledges’ physical condition.”

University police issued warrants July 30 for the seven men, each of whom has been issued a summons to appear in Monroe County Court on Sept. 1.

A guilty verdict could result in up to 2½ years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

In addition to Conforti, the other defendants are Casey Clarke of Hagaman, New York; Ryan Donohue of Eden Prairie, Minnesota; Noah Kucera of San Clemente, California; Joseph Moon of Elkhart, Indiana; Kaptur Nowacyzk of Crown Point, Indiana; and Arjun Patel of Westfield, Indiana.

Patel also faces a felony obstruction of justice charge. His probable cause affidavit states, “While looking through Mr. Patel’s communication records, it was clear that Mr. Patel intentionally coached victims’ statements, coordinated the destruction of digital evidence and played a role in the execution of the hazing event.”

Phi Kappa Psi has been suspended at Indiana University since Oct. 21, 2025, according to the university website.

Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The (Elgin) Courier-News.