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Student accused of sex with minor; UNM suspends frat

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The University of New Mexico has suspended activities at a fraternity after UNM police arrested a resident at its house on suspicion of sexual assault, including of a 15-year-old girl.

Michael McGuffin, 24, was arrested at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house, 1811 Mesa Vista Drive N.E., early Tuesday night, according to UNM police Lt. Pat Davis.

He is charged with 11 felony counts, including criminal sexual penetration, sexual contact with a minor and sexual exploitation of a child, Davis said.

Dean of Students Randy Boeglin said the fraternity was temporarily suspended Tuesday night, meaning its estimated 35 to 40 members cannot hold social activities.

The fraternity house, which has rooms for 15 members, will remain open, Boeglin said.

The national headquarters of Sigma Alpha Epsilon sent the UNM chapter a cease-and-desist letter, Boeglin said.

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 saw another video in which McGuffin engaged in a sexual act with an apparently unconscious woman, who police later identified as a minor.

During a search of the fraternity Friday, detectives seized McGuffin's cell phone and computer, a number of CDs and videotapes, as well as several condom wrappers and a bra, according to the affidavit.

In October 2006, Sigma Alpha Epsilon member James Anaya was arrested on charges of raping a woman at the fraternity house.

That case has not been adjudicated, Boeglin said.

On June 9, police responded to a call at the fraternity house where McGuffin's car had been vandalized. There, they learned he was dating a 15-year-old, Davis said, but they did not arrest him because the girl and her parents did not want to press charges.

On Friday, a 19-year-old woman who said she had a relationship with McGuffin when she was 14 told police she was concerned about his behavior, according to the affidavit.

After McGuffin sent her a text message about a video of them engaged in sexual activity, she contacted a mutual acquaintance, the warrant says.

That person told the woman, and later police, about videos he had seen of McGuffin's having sexual contact with minors, according to the affidavit.

McGuffin was booked into Metro Detention Center on Tuesday and is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond.

Boeglin said it is too early to tell what role anyone else in the fraternity might have had in McGuffin's alleged activities, or whether anyone knew about them.

Fraternity member Bill Putz Jr. said McGuffin hadn't been initiated into the fraternity but participated in activities and lived in the house during the last school year. McGuffin was having grade problems and was supposed to move out of the house by the time school started, Putz said.

He said the fraternity generally does not allow minors in the house, but he said one of the girls involved had told other fraternity members she was 18.

Putz emphasized that McGuffin has not been proven guilty of the charges.

"I hope that if it comes out that he's innocent, that gets as much publicity as this has, and we can restore our good name," Putz said.