UNM suspends fraternity activities in wake of charges

ALBUQUERQUE

The University of New Mexico has suspended activities at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity after campus police arrested one of its members on suspicion of sexual assault.

Michael McGuffin, 25, has been charged with 11 felony counts, including criminal sexual penetration, sexual contact with a minor and sexual exploitation of a child, said UNM police Lt. Pat Davis.

McGuffin was arrested Tuesday night at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house and booked into the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center. His bond was reduced Wednesday from $100,000 to $15,000.

McGuffin had been a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon since fall 2006. The university placed him on suspension in May for unrelated academic reasons.

Randy Boeglin, UNM’s dean of students, said the fraternity has been temporarily suspended. He said the fraternity house will remain open but its estimated 35 to 40 members can’t hold social activities.

Boeglin added that the national headquarters of Sigma Alpha Epsilon sent the UNM chapter a cease-and-desist letter.

According to a search warrant affidavit filed in state district court on Monday, McGuffin had showed a friend a video in which he engaged in sexual acts with a 15-year-old. The friend told police he also saw another video in which McGuffin engaged in a sexual act with an apparently unconscious woman, who police later identified as a minor.

Detectives searched the fraternity house Friday and seized McGuffin’s cell phone and computer, a number of CDs and videotapes, several condom wrappers and a bra, according to the affidavit.

Information from: The Albuquerque Tribune, http://www.abqtrib.com; Albuquerque Journal, https://www.abqjournal.com/

– Associated Press

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