Redding >> A Chico State University fraternity and its former president have pleaded guilty to charges they vandalized a campground in the Lassen National Forest earlier this year, U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert announced Thursday.

The fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, and its former president Evan Jossey both pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single count of illegally cutting or otherwise damaging any timber, tree or other forest product, according to court documents.

Authorities accused the fraternity and its members of cutting down 32 trees at the Deer Creek Trailhead in Tehama County during an initiation ceremony in April.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig Kellison sentenced the fraternity to 9,800 hours of community service, a three-year term of probation and a $4,000 fine.

The fraternity also was ordered to pay $4,387.97 in restitution to the Lassen National Forest.

Jossey was given a $1,000 fine and a term of court probation, which will end when the fine is paid in full.

The charges stemmed from an incident the weekend of April 21 at the Deer Creek Trailhead campground in Lassen National Forest, where more than 30 trees were cut down during an initiation of pledges to the fraternity, according to court documents.

According to an affidavit filed by a U.S. Forest Service officer investigating the case, about 80 people were estimated to have attended the fraternity’s initiation ceremony. A witness who had been camping nearby told investigators that he saw and heard trees being cut down and people shooting firearms the evening of April 21.

When the camper left the site the next morning, he reportedly saw a large group of people seated in six or seven columns, according to the affidavit. The camper told investigators that Jossey had previously introduced himself, saying the fraternity would be holding the “final stages of initiation over the weekend.”

In an interview with a Tehama County sheriff’s deputy, Jossey acknowledged the fraternity retreat but “denied cutting down trees or shooting any firearms or seeing any members cut down any trees or shoot firearms,” according to the affidavit.

The Forest Service officer who filed the affidavit noted that he visited the campsite May 5. The officer wrote that he found 32 fresh trees that had been chopped down with a bladed object, such as an ax or hatchet. Fifteen other trees sustained chop marks but were still standing.

While walking the site, the officer wrote that he collected several pieces of evidence, including a Chico State construction program T-shirt and three black blindfolds.

In the “immediate vicinity” of two of the blindfolds, according to the officer, were red and white candle drippings, as well as a felled cedar tree.