A national fraternity has been banned in Pennsylvania and ordered to pay a sex-figure fine after a grand jury ruled it tried to cover up a pledge’s hazing death in 2013.
Pi Delta Psi, an Asian-American cultural fraternity, was sentenced Monday for the role its Baruch College campus members had in 19-year-old freshman pledge Chun “Michael” Deng’s death.
In Monroe County court, the fraternity — convicted of involuntary manslaughter — was banned from Pennsylvania for 10 years. It was also ordered to pay a fine of more than $110,000.
FRATERNITY BROTHERS TO BE SENTENCED AFTER ALLEGEDLY COVERING UP PLEDGE HAZING DEATH
“It’s the epitome of a lack of acceptance of responsibility,” Assistant District Attorney Kim Metzger said in court. “It’s their rituals and functions that led us here today.”
A grand jury said Pi Delta Psi members physically abused Deng before his death in a hazing ritual at a rented house in the Poconos.
The teen was blindfolded and forced to wear a heavy backpack before he was repeatedly tackled during a ritual known as “glass ceiling.”
Michael Deng died during a fraternity hazing ritual at a house in the Poconos, pictured here.
(REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)
He became unconscious and was carried inside the house while fraternity members changed his clothes. The frat brothers did a Google search of his symptoms, and hid banners and other fraternity memorabilia in an attempted cover-up, prosecutors said.
In a written statement, Pi Delta Psi said its now-disbanded Baruch chapter had brought “shame and dishonor” to the national fraternity, while the fraternity also called itself “in part a victim” – which Monroe County President Judge Margherita Patti-Worthington scolded.
“I would never label the national fraternity as a ‘victim,'” the judge said.
Four defendants from the fraternity are expected to be sentenced for their role in Deng’s death later on Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
