Newly minted NBC “Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas was one of nearly a dozen Loyola fraternity brothers arrested in 2001 after a violent break-in at a rival frat house that left one student bloodied and his girlfriend shoved to the ground, according to a report.
Llamas, who was hailed as the new face of NBC News when he slid into Lester Holt’s chair this past summer, was never charged in connection to the incident.
“As an undergraduate at Loyola University nearly 25 years ago, Tom was one of 11 students indiscriminately arrested following a fight and alleged break-in at another fraternity,” an NBC News spokesperson told The Post.
“Tom, as well as most of those students, was not involved in the incident. Following extensive reviews by both the university and local authorities, Tom and those not involved were never accused of any wrongdoing or found to have violated any laws or school rules. The incident was widely reported by the local press at the time. Tom graduated from Loyola in 2001 and remains a loyal supporter of the school.”
But victims and their allies still fumed to the Guardian that the then–Sigma Phi Epsilon president never condemned the invasion, never expressed sympathy — and instead brushed it off as college rivalry.
“Something terrible happened to [someone who was just] home … and nobody was like, ‘Hey, that must have been awful for you,’” one person close to the victims told the Guardian.
The break-in, fueled by a bar fight, shattered more than furniture. It left scars that victims say were compounded by the lack of accountability — especially now that one of the men arrested outside the scene anchors the nation’s most-watched evening newscast.
The attack unfolded in the early hours of Feb. 22, 2001. According to police and press reports at the time, a mob of Sigma Phi Epsilon members stormed the Beggars fraternity’s three-story house across from Loyola’s campus.
The mob busted through the door and a huge front window, leaving the house wrecked — four windows shattered, a 16-foot table splintered, and chairs in pieces.
Inside, only one Beggars member was home — studying for a medical school exam while his girlfriend watched TV. The intruders pummeled him, leaving two black eyes and facial swelling. His girlfriend was shoved to the ground.
Damage was estimated at $4,000, according to the Guardian.
New Orleans police first brushed it off as dumb frat antics — until they saw the wreckage. A top commander later admitted that it looked like a textbook felony break-in, according to the Guardian.
But once officers surveyed the scene, he said, they realized it was “planned, methodical … the definition of felony aggravated burglary.”
Investigators arrested 11 Sigma Phi Epsilon members, including Llamas, then a senior communications and drama major.
But the case unraveled quickly. Prosecutors dismissed most charges within two months, citing “testimony insufficient.”
Llamas’s case was among the first thrown out. Several other fraternity brothers had charges reduced to misdemeanors. A few paid restitution or settled civil lawsuits.
Two of Llamas’s fraternity brothers, Eric Rust and Timothy Fanguy, insist the future anchor never went inside.
“From what I know, Tommy did the same thing as I did: showed up but didn’t come inside,” Rust told the Guardian.
“He was standing outside when all of this went down,” Fanguy said.
But handwritten notes from then–police officer Catherine Beckett muddy the picture. Taken during an interview with the female victim, the notes identify “Tommy” as “one of the perp ΣE.” The only “Tommy” arrested was Llamas.
The victim, however, later said trauma blurred her memory. Even decades later, a ringing doorbell still triggers panic, someone close to her told Guardian.
The break-in capped years of bad blood between the two fraternities. Both sides accused the other of instigating fights. On the night in question, a bar scuffle “over a girl” spilled into the early morning raid.
Llamas was cleared in Loyola’s own disciplinary proceedings. The SigEp chapter was briefly suspended, while the Beggars were slapped with probation.
At the time, Llamas struck a victorious tone. “We are extremely happy with the outcome,” he told Loyola’s student newspaper in a story that was cited by the Guardian.
In June, Llamas gushed on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” that Loyola was “one of the best communications schools in the country.” The school eagerly blasted the clip on social media.
NBC, asked about his role in the 2001 arrests, issued a statement to the Guardian saying Llamas was “indiscriminately arrested” and never accused of wrongdoing.
“Following extensive reviews by both the university and local authorities, Tom and those not involved were never accused of any wrongdoing or found to have violated any laws or school rules,” the network said.
But Loyola alumni who sided with the victims call that revisionist history.
“No one has ever said sorry – at least not in public,” one person told Guardian. “And, as far as I am aware, they have not done that privately, either.”
For Llamas, the incident remains a 25-year-old stain on an otherwise glittering career.
The Miami native, son of Cuban immigrants, climbed from local news to the national stage, earning awards before replacing Holt in June. He is the first Latino to anchor a weekday network evening broadcast in English.
“My parents came here with nothing … and now I’m going to anchor Nightly News,” Llamas said on NBC’s “Today.” “That is the American Dream.”
The Post has sought comment from NBC and Llamas.
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