Frat banned from state over pledge’s hazing death

STROUDSBURG, Pa. — A national fraternity was banned from Pennsylvania for 10 years and ordered to pay a fine of more than $110,000 as it was sentenced Monday for its role in the death of a 19-year-old pledge during a 2013 hazing ritual.

The judge and a prosecutor slammed Pi Delta Psi for calling itself a victim of rogue fraternity members, saying the organization tolerated and even encouraged hazing for years leading up to the death of Baruch College freshman Chun “Michael” Deng.

“It’s the epitome of a lack of acceptance of responsibility. It’s their rituals and functions that led us here today,” Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Kim Metzger said in court.

Pi Delta Psi, an Asian American cultural fraternity founded in 1994, has 25 chapters in 11 states, including one at Penn State University that will now have to be disbanded.

Also sentenced Monday were former fraternity members Kenny Kwan, Charles Lai, Raymond Lam and Sheldon Wong. They pleaded guilty to charges including voluntary manslaughter and hindering apprehension. The sentences ranged from time served up to 24 months.

A grand jury said fraternity members at Baruch, a campus of the City University of New York, physically abused Deng, and then tried to cover it up as the 19-year-old lay dying in their rented house in the Pocono Mountains. Police charged 37 people with crimes ranging from aggravated assault to hazing to third-degree murder.

Pi Delta Psi was convicted of involuntary manslaughter following a trial. In a written statement, Pi Delta Psi said its now-disbanded Baruch chapter had brought “shame and dishonor” to the national fraternity.