Former Baruch College fraternity members sentenced to jail for pledge's hazing death
— -- Three former fraternity brothers from a New York City college were sentenced to jail Monday for their role in a pledge's hazing death in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains five years ago.
Kenny Kwan, Raymond Lam and Sheldon Wong -- who were part of Pi Delta Psi with Baruch College -- had pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and hindering apprehension in the death of Chun "Michael" Deng in 2013. They had initially been charged with third-degree murder.
Kwan was sentenced to 12 to 24 months while Wong and Lam were sentenced to 10 to 24 months, ABC affiliate WNEP-TV in Scranton reported. A fourth man, Charles Lai, was sentenced to time served and was put on probation, WNEP-TV reported.
The Pi Delta Psi fraternity itself was also sentenced earlier in the day. It was banned from Pennsylvania for 10 years and also must pay a fine, the Associated Press reported. The Asian-American fraternity was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a trial.
Deng, 19, was a freshman at Baruch College, which is part of the City University of New York. He was pledging the Pi Delta Psi fraternity when police said he died after a hazing ritual at a home the fraternity rented in the Pocono Mountains.
Police said Deng was injured while participating in a ritual known as the "glass ceiling," in which pledges, blindfolded and wearing a 30-pound backpack, must "get through a line of brothers while fraternity members shove and take the pledges down and resist the pledge from getting through the line."
Deng was tackled and knocked out, police said. While he was unconscious, fraternity members called the national fraternity president, who allegedly told them to hide all fraternity items, according to authorities. The students waited for more than an hour before driving Deng to a hospital 45 minutes away, police said.
Deng died from multiple traumatic injuries and "the delay in treatment of one to two hours significantly contributed" to his death, according to the forensic pathologist.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
