11/11-11/13- grand jury testimony

part 1 

—THE ALPHA UPSILON CHAPTER OF BETA THETA PI AT PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY—

  • Brendan Young 

    • became president of Beta in 2 years 

    • (5) pledge education committee- they make decisions regarding the rush/initiation

    • (6-9) virtual book and pledge manuals- VP is in charge→ trying to put blame? 

    • (12)

      • exec board 

        • president: brendan young 

        • exec VP: edward gilmartin 

        • admin VP: daniel casey 

        • VP of finance: adam mengden 

        • VP of recruitment: Ryan Burke 

        • VP of risk management: michaelangelo schiavone 

        • VP of programming: matthew reinmund 

        • VP of communications: johnathan martines 

        • house manager: braxton becker 

      • pledge manual said alcohol prohibited- conflict between manual and what the people do?? 

      • risk management policy says the same → maybe the frat doesn’t take it seriously 

        • also says no hazing… someone didn’t listen oooo

—BETA’S REPRESENTATION AS A “DRY” FRATERNITY—

  • Adam Mengden (VP of finance) 

    • discusses coordinated efforts to buy alcohol despite the frat claiming to be “dry”

    • (18) kinda puts blame on the risk manager (schiavone) by saying he has the responsibility to obtain alcohol 

    • (20-21) he says schiavone told them if they paid $250 then they can drink, but if they didn’t then the price would go to $300

    • despite the “dry” label the slush fund was just for alcohol 

  • Detective David Scicchitano of the state college police department  

    • found receipts of a mass quantity of alcohol bought over an 8 day span 

    • heimer admitted that schiavone is responsible for obtaining the alcohol, and schiavone requested him to purchase alcohol for the event 

    • text messages between frat guys about buying alcohol

      • clearly there’s more people involved than what Mengden implied 

—THE “DRY” RECRUITMENT PROCESS AND BETA’S VIOLATION THEREOF:—

  • Evan Rooney (Beta pledge) - discusses the rush 

    • says the Interfraternity Council (IFC) coordinates the rush, which should be a non-alcoholic process

      • IFC- governing body of all Greek organizations 

        • The Beta exec. must be a part of this then.. maybe they bought alcohol in secret?

    • rush: people see what frats fit them || pledge: frats choose someone to get the formal invitation 

    • Beta’s rush events had alcohol→ clear rule breaking?

    • the people who are rushing with the yellow wrist bands aren’t supposed to be drinking alcohol 

      • Beta (joe) asked them to cover it up so the IFC doesn’t see it 

        • so they clearly know it’s against the rules 

—BETA’S BID ACCEPTANCE NIGHT & THE GAUNTLET—

  • Rooney received a text to wear a specific outfit and was escorted to the 13 other hopeful pledges 

  • (63-64) → weird ass rituals 

  • the pledge master told them that they had to drink→ before it reached the end of the line otherwise the one at the end has to drink it all 

    • half of the bottle was left so the pledge master told them to keep passing it 

  • afterwards, they were taken in one by one to stations to drink more vodka, shotgun a beer (drinking the beer faster), drink a wine bag, beer pong station (Rooney had to drink a full cup of beer), another shotgun of beer hello

  • social with a female student organization- brothers encouraged pledges to drink more 

  • Mengden: 

    • confirmed that the pledges consumed alcohol at a fast pace at the stations

    • witnessed the shotgun and wine station 

    • Knew of the dangers with consuming alcohol at a large pace 

    • Beta didn’t assign sober brothers to care for the pledges 

    • acknowledged forced drinking is hazing which is a crim e

    • observed pledges becoming sick

    • his own pledge was the same way

    • says the Beta brothers demanded the pledges run the gauntlet 

      • he’s putting the blame on everyone not just himself 

  • Luke Visser: 

    • in charge of the beer pong station, everyone drank

  • Craig Heimer:

    • pledges consumed 4-5 alcoholic beverages within a 2 minute time span???????

  • Ryan Foster: 

    • bid acceptance night reaches a point where people have to take care of each other due to alcohol consumption 

  • Kordel Davis: 

    • Beta made alcohol available to anyone but had no checks 

    • Beta took him to urgent care when he fell and hit his head bc of the alcohol

      • no 911

  • Gary Dibileo 

    • ran the wine station 

    • also experienced the same during his acceptance night 

  • Greggory Rizzo 

    • oldest pledger at 20- everyone wasn’t of drinking age 

  • Daniel Casey’s and Brendan Young’s phones: evidence of planning and organizing the gauntlet 

    • Feb 3-4, 2016: Casey acknowledged the activities will screw up the pledges 

    • March 30-31, 2016: Casey mentions hazing and how it was a thought for next semester 

      • Young doesn’t want the spring class soft because he wants to fuck around with them

    • Jan 7, 2017: Young texted Casey that they are both fucked if something bad happens to the pledges 

3 STATEMENTS/TENSIONS:

  1. The boys already knew that the gauntlets were wrong, so now they’re all trying to put the blame on everyone so they aren’t alone 

  2. The situation is more of a collective blame than individual accountability because the guys on the executive board weren’t alone in planning the gauntlet 

  3. The gauntlet is the Beta brothers’ way of forcing power through intoxication 

part 2: 

—REVELATIONS FROM BETA THETA PI’S VIDEO SURVEILLANCE:—

  • Officers initiated a formal investigation after Timothy Piazza was taken to the hospital 

    • they had multiple cameras but the cameras in the basement didn’t record the night…

    • camera time was 37 min behind real tim e

  • videos showed the ritual, them at some station, Michael Bonatucci carrying a case of Natural Lite beer 

    • showed the pledges chugging vodka and shotgunning a beer 

      • all are under 21 

    • timothy (19 years old) is the 9th pledge 

  • after an hour and a half after the last pledge finished the shotgun station, the pledges went back to the basement for the social

    • clearly intoxicated 

  • Piazza was staggering and hunched over

    • Beta brother Lars Kenyon was taking care of him 

  • Timothy was staggering and couldn’t walk, and he fell face first on the basement steps 

    • Luke Visser pointing agitatedly in the direction of the basement stairs

—THE FALL—

  • timothy fell 15 feet down ouch 

  • Jonah Neuman informed police 

  • Rooney said he was present when Timothy fell but he didn’t hear or see it 

    • hmm…

    • also said someone said that Tim could’ve slipped and he didn’t think much of it, and he claimed he didn’t have any idea that a flight of stairs was involved

      • very suspicious 

  • Tim is unconscious when he was carried upstairs 

  • 28 minutes after Tim fell, Kordel Davis appears 

    • says he was concerned and stressed for tim’s life 

    • stressed and screamed at the other boys that he had to go to the hospital 

    • Neuman pushed Davis to the other wall and told him to leave it 

    • Davis went to Ed Gilmartin, the vice president 

      • Gilmartin told Davis that he was crazy 

  • No one is really paying attention to Tim 

    • he tries to walk but he falls backwards and hits his head off the hardwood floor

    • falls head first into an iron railing leading up to the second floor and lands on a stone floor 

    • tries to go to the front door, he falls head first into the door 

  • Literally no one is concerned what the fuck his head injuries are making me queasy 

—THE DISCOVERY OF TIMOTHY PIAZZA’S UNCONSCIOUS BODY— 

  • Daniel Erickson

    • started looking for Tim at 10 AM 

      • felt cold to the touch, pale skin, half open eyes, bloody face 

    • THEY CARRIED HIM BACK BUT NO ONE CALLED 911 ARE YOU SHITTING ME 

    • they tried to take care of him for 42 minutes 

  • Ryan McCann’s phone: internet searches show they were trying to help somewhat 

    • listed a lot of symptoms like discoloration/bruising, cold feet and hands, etc

    • 10:48 am: McCann finally calls the police 

      • doesn’t tell them Tim fell down the stairs the previous night?????

  • Erickson:

    • The plan to notify the chapter advisor (Time Bream) never went through because they kept waiting and deferring to the beta president 

—THE COVER UP—

  • there was an active attempt to conceal and destroy evidence 

  • they had multiple group chats in GroupMe and Facebook messaging system 

  • Brendan Young 

    • Instructed Daniel Casey to make sure the pledges clean up and get rid of any evidence of alcohol 

    • asked another person if they deleted a group (chat) 

    • Him and Stillwell were texting about the potential consequences 

      • Young hopes they didn’t get into any lawsuits 

      • He knows about what they could get sue for, but he doesn’t know what exactly he's responsible for as president 

—HERSHEY MEDICAL CENTER—

  • abdominal injures - class 4 splenic laceration and hemorrhagic shock 

    • 4 liters (80% total blood supply) of dark, old blood in abdomen 

    • spleen shattered→ removed 

      • multiple lacerations and blood clots 

  • no corneal or gag reflex, no response to painful stimuli, unresponsive pupils 

  • bradycardiac and hypotensive 

  • right holohemispheric subdural hematoma→ brain compression→ neurologic decline 

  • craniotomy→ almost half of right skull removed to alleviate compressions 

  • a lot of brain injuries they didn’t think would be survivable

  • Tim pronounced deal at 0123- Feb 4, 2017 

—SCIENTIFIC OPINIONS OF FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST DR. HARRY KAMEROW:— 

  • Dr. Harry Kamerow (forensic pathologist) 

    • hypotensive (low BP), elevated lactate level (no oxygen??) and decreased hemoglobin

    • respiratory failure that is attributable to his severe head trauma 

      • compromised brain function that struggled to control his respiration 

    • severe damage to the cerebral hemispheres of the brain 

    • skull fracture 

    • the Beta brothers could’ve worsened his conditions 

    • BAC: between 0.086 and 0.102 15 hours after consumption 

      • Tim stumbling before falling on stairs: BAC calculated: .28-.36%

        • .36→ life threatening amount of alcohol 

          • He has no instinctive mechanisms to protect himself because of the alcohol 

  • this is actually insane how did only the Pres an VP get 2-4 months in prison??