5 UNC students charged with tampering with smoke alarms at fraternity

Editor's Note: Charges against Muhmad Alzpair were dismissed and his record expunged in 2023.

Five University of North Carolina students were charged with tampering with smoke alarms after firefighters found a carbon monoxide leak in their fraternity house, the town of Chapel Hill said Wednesday.

Michael Tariq Jabar, 20; Richard Anthony Elsea, 19; Jacob Craft, 20; Ryan Todd Williams, 22; and Muhmad Alzpair, 18, all of Chapel Hill, were charged with tampering with a fire alarm.

The five are UNC-Chapel Hill students in the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity.

The Chapel Hill fire department responded to a carbon monoxide alarm Feb. 14 and found an active leak at the house, on West Cameron Street.

While checking the house for people inside, responders found coverings over smoke alarms in the bedrooms.

As a fraternity house, the building is considered commercial and must have working smoke alarms.

The fire department issued criminal summons to the five students.