By Samuel Rubenfeld
A University student was arrested last Thursday on felony charges of robbery, kidnapping, criminal use of a firearm and assault for the alleged pistol-whipping, beating and stripping of another student by him and four of his friends over an ex-girlfriend the victim was allegedly dating, police said.
Adam “Berdman” Schelberg, 22, a member of Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) fraternity, who lives at 29 Cow Lane in Great Neck, was arrested for the beating, along with his high school friend Danny Henderson Jr., 20, of 35 Linden Court in Roslyn Heights, who attends Farmingdale State College. The three other students were not apprehended and the victim, a 21-year-old University student, whose name was withheld by police.
News reports on Friday quoted Nassau County police as saying the victim was a fellow member of ZBT fraternity, but the Dean of Students Office, Public Safety and University Relations would not confirm that allegation. The departments refused to release his name. Nassau County Police Detective Lt. Raymond Cote was not available for comment to The Chronicle at press time, but through a representative, said he would be available for a follow-up interview at a later time.
In press accounts, police say Schelberg convinced the victim to go for a ride in his Range Rover, where they argued about the ex-girlfriend, with whom the victim allegedly said he was just friends. But they stopped off campus, on Duncan Road in Hempstead, where Schelberg’s friends were waiting.
The friends dragged the victim out of the car and beat him with fists, and one pistol-whipped him with a handgun, police said. He was forced back into the car at gunpoint where they took the victim’s money and clothes, police added.
They left him on Fairview Boulevard in nothing but his underwear, where a good Samaritan allowed the victim to use a cell phone to call a friend to drive him to the hospital. There he was treated and released for a head injury, police said.
Requests for comment to multiple members of the University chapter of ZBT fraternity were all declined, but one member, who also refused comment, was wearing a shirt with Schelberg’s face and the words “Stop Snitching” on it to a Greek Week event.
“ZBT is a very [integral] part of the Greek community,” said Lamar K. Cheston, a junior and president of the Inter-Fraternity-Sorority Council (IFSC). “They hold up the name and the principles of the IFSC.”
Phone calls to the national headquarters of ZBT were not returned.
The University released the following statement: “Hofstra University takes all matters regarding the welfare and safety of all students very seriously, and we are currently conducting a thorough investigation. While we cannot comment on the status of any individual student due to student privacy laws, we will be following the guidelines set forth in our Community Standards Manual, which state that if a Hofstra University student is charged with a felony, the University reserves the right to summarily suspend the student.”
Neither University Relations nor the Dean of Students office would say whether Schelberg has been suspended. After the arrest, Schelberg was released on $125,000 bail within 90 minutes of his incarceration, according to a story in the New York Post. Henderson did not make bail as of Monday.
Schelberg’s lawyer, Sal Marinello of Mineola, would not comment to The Chronicle, because he said the case is already going to court. Schelberg’s next court appearance is April 23.
Cheston would not comment on the incident, but said “there’s a bad apple in every bunch.”
(WNBC)