Secret Service agent charged in near-fatal hazing with canes and paddles that led to kidney failure

U.S. newsSecret Service agent charged in near-fatal hazing with canes and paddles that led to kidney failureMarquez Christopher Pinder, 29, was placed on administrative leave and the Secret Service is “fully cooperating with the investigation,” the agency said. A Secret Service officer.Celal Gunes / Anadolu via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJuly 27, 2026, 10:48 AM EDTBy David K. Li and Juliette ArcodiaA Secret Service agent in Florida and two others were arrested in connection to a brutal, days-long college hazing ritual that nearly ended in death, officials said Sunday.Subscribe to read this story ad-freeGet unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Marquez Christopher Pinder, 29, was placed on administrative leave and the Secret Service is “fully cooperating with the investigation,” according to a statement by Special Agent in Charge Michael Townsend, who runs the agency’s Miami field office.Pinder, Jared Lamar James, 26, and Elijah Delano Dyous, 29, have also been booked on suspicion of attempted manslaughter with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and hazing with a deadly weapon, according to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.Pinder held the title “dean of pledges” for the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity at the University of Miami in Coral Gables.Two pledges, identified only as Victim 1 and Victim 2, were “subjected to severe beatings,” according to an arrest warrant written by Sweetwater police Detective Kevin Espinosa and Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Detective Alejandro Venturin.It wasn’t immediately clear how or why the 29-year-old Pinder would have such intimate connections to a college frat.“An investigation revealed evidence of alleged hazing incidents involving prolonged and repeated beatings with canes and paddles,” prosecutors said in statement. “A failure to correctly answer questions about the fraternity allegedly led to the beatings.”The alleged hazing began inside an apartment on April 1 in Sweetwa...