Men face judge for ‘joke’ that scorched friend’s crotch

An alcohol-fueled practical joke went bad when a South County man’s cologne-soaked pants were torched

By Leslie Parrilla

Two men face criminal charges alleging that they set fire to their friend’s groin as a practical joke during a night of drinking in Grover Beach.

Matthew Craig Pillers, 22, and Jack Brent Nicholas Keiffer were charged May 12 with battery and unlawfully causing a fire, according to court documents.

They are set to appear in court today to be arraigned on the charges, which carry a maximum of four years and six years in prison, respectively.

Pillers, Keiffer and friend Elliot Tuleja were drinking at a house in Grover Beach on Jan. 18 when Tuleja passed out. Pillers and Keiffer decided to play a practical joke on him.

“They routinely drank together and would play practical jokes on each other, such as shaving their eyebrows,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Jerret Gran. “They were drinking, and one of the guys passed out. So (the other two) said, ‘Let’s do something. I’m going to look for rotten fruit to (put) up in his socks.’

“The other guy found a bottle of cologne and poured it onto his pants. The one guy said, ‘That’s funny,’ ” Gran said. “The other guy said, ‘That’s not funny. If you lit it on fire, that would be funny.’ ”

One of the men then allegedly lit Tuleja’s groin area on fire where they had poured the cologne. Tuleja woke up, and all of the men attempted to extinguish the blaze.

Tuleja suffered second-degree burns on his testicles and third-degree burns on his inner thighs, Gran said.

Tuleja did not believe his friends intended to harm him, Gran said.

A search of local court records showed Pillers was convicted in 2004 of grand theft and buying stolen property and in 2005 of petty theft with a prior.

Keiffer does not have any local convictions, according to court records that date to the 1980s.