News Rutgers freshman suicide after roommate broadcast gay sexual encounter online? - Page 31

**jAZ** · 09-29-2010, 11:34 PM

Wow. Prank gone waaay wrong.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...gers_post.html

Rutgers freshman is presumed dead in suicide after roommate broadcast gay sexual encounter online

Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 5:42 PM
Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger

PISCATAWAY — A Rutgers University freshman appears to have killed himself by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate broadcast live images of the 18-year-old having a sexual encounter with another man on the internet, according to campus and law enforcement sources.

Tyler Clementi, 18, of Ridgewood, is presumed dead after his car, cell phone and computer were found near the George Washington Bridge last week, law enforcement sources said. His wallet was found on the walkway adjacent to the New York-bound lanes. In a statement released this afternoon, Clementi’s family confirmed the suicide and said his body has not been found.

Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, and Molly Wei, 18, of Princeton, were charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy for setting up a camera in a dorm room on Sept. 19 and using it to view and transmit a live sex scene, said Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan.

Paul Mainardi of Woodbury, the Clementi family's attorney, said Ravi and Clementi were roommates at Rutgers.

Ravi's Twitter feed on that date referred to seeing his roommate have sex with another man in their room on the Piscataway campus, classmates said.

"Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay," Ravi said on his Twitter page in a Sept. 19 entry posted at 6:17 p.m.

Two days later, Ravi posted another entry directing his nearly 150 Twitter followers to iChat, an internet messaging service with a live video feed.

"Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it's happening again," Ravi wrote in the Sept. 21 post.

Ravi's Twitter feed has since been taken down. But the entries survived in a cached version of the page still available through Google's search engine this afternoon.

Prosecutors said Ravi and Wei set up a camera on Sept. 19 and broadcast live images of Clementi having a "sexual encounter." Ravi is also accused of trying unsuccessfully to broadcast a second sex scene Sept. 21.

The Clementi family released a statement this afternoon. "Tyler was a fine young man, and a distinguished musician. The family is heartbroken beyond words. They respectfully request that they be given time to grieve their great loss and that their privacy at this painful time be respected by all," it said.

"The family and their representatives are cooperating fully with the ongoing criminal investigations of two Rutgers University students," the statement said.

Clementi was an accomplished violinist who had received a college scholarship from the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra for his musicianship and leadership.
The violinist left a lasting impression with some in the Bergen County town, said Hiro Kagei, 17, who played in the orchestra with the teenager. A solo Clementi played in a concert last year "blew the audience away," he said.

"Now that he’ dead, it’s sad to think we won’t hear something like that anymore," Kagei said.

On the Rutgers campus, classmates described Clementi as quiet. At a mandatory dorm meeting called the day he was reported missing, only three students said they had spoken to Clementi since they moved into the dorm last month, according to students who were at the meeting.

Ravi and Wei — who were classmates at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North before enrolling at Rutgers this fall — did not respond to e-mail requests to comment Tuesday. Steve Altman, Ravi’s attorney, also declined to comment.

Ravi surrendered to Rutgers police Tuesday and was released on $25,000 bail, the prosecutor’s office said. Wei surrendered to the campus police Monday and was released on her own recognizance.

Under New Jersey’s invasion-of-privacy laws, it is a fourth degree crime to collect or view images depicting nudity or sexual contact involving another individual without that person’s consent, the prosecutor said. It is a third degree crime to transmit or distribute the images.

If the students are convicted on a third degree offense they could face up to five years in prison each under state law. Conviction on a fourth-degree crime could lead to probation or up to 18 months in prison.

Pants · 10-01-2010, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BWillie007

My roommate in college taped himself screwing some skank in college w/ the background song "The Animal I've Become" by Breaking Benjamin. He put the camera in a place so you couldn't see his dong thankfully and he posted it to his website. I always thought it was a dumb thing to do and have no idea how someone would be okay with the world seeing them have sex, but nothing ever happened out of it. Everybody including the girls he knew thought it was funny.

What the hell does this have to do with anything? Cool story, brah?

**Mr. Kotter** · 10-01-2010, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

Kids who wear tongue rings, eye-brow rings, purple hair, shaved heads, get tatoos....have a right to do that too. However, the smart ones understand that others may give them a hard time about their choices, and they learn to ignore and/or live with the intolerance of others toward their choices. However, most don't commit suicide when morons engage in juvenile and ignorant bullying. It's not about whether they deserve anything, it's about reasonable expections regarding the stupidity of other humans.

This is still the real bottom-line.

Blah-bla-bla-Bla-Blah...

FAX · 10-01-2010, 09:34 AM

I have an idea.

Maybe it would be good if people would just demonstrate some basic respect and stay the hell out of other peoples' private lives.

FAX

**Mr. Kotter** · 10-01-2010, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FAX

I have an idea.

Maybe it would be good if people would just demonstrate some basic respect and stay the hell out of other peoples' private lives.

FAX

Agreed. Espcially for roomates who insist on bringing their choices into the room into a shared room...

I probably should regret turning-in the coke-heads from across the hall during my freshman year at college....

Pants · 10-01-2010, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

Agreed. Espcially for roomates who insist on bringing their choices into the room into a shared room...

I probably should regret turning-in the coke-heads from across the hall during my freshman year at college....

You're a snitch? How fitting. Snitches are the lowest of the low. Weakest of the weak.

Pathetic.

FAX · 10-01-2010, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

Agreed. Espcially for roomates who insist on bringing their choices into the room into a shared room...

I probably should regret turning-in the coke-heads from across the hall during my freshman year at college....

It's never a good idea to pour soda on your noggin, Mr. Mr. Kotter ... but, isn't it fairly common for dorm roommates to allow one another some private time? I seem to remember spending time in the girls' dorm while the roommate was "away".

FAX

Pants · 10-01-2010, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FAX

It's never a good idea to pour soda on your noggin, Mr. Mr. Kotter ... but, isn't it fairly common for dorm roommates to allow one another some private time? I seem to remember spending time in the girls' dorm while the roommate was "away".

FAX

He was too busy looking for troublemakers to report to the RA, there was no time to get laid.

|Zach| · 10-01-2010, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

Agreed. Espcially for roomates who insist on bringing their choices into the room into a shared room...

I probably should regret turning-in the coke-heads from across the hall during my freshman year at college....

How unsurprising.

**Mr. Kotter** · 10-01-2010, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by |Zach|

How unsurprising.

Yeah, I know. Dealing cocaine in a residence hall....well, gosh...I should have just looked the other way. Yep. I'm ashamed.

**Mr. Kotter** · 10-01-2010, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FAX

It's never a good idea to pour soda on your noggin, Mr. Mr. Kotter ... but, isn't it fairly common for dorm roommates to allow one another some private time? I seem to remember spending time in the girls' dorm while the roommate was "away".

FAX

I had a Mormon roomate one year. I possessed the good judgement to take my trysts elsewhere. Just sayin'.

Pants · 10-01-2010, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

Yeah, I know. Dealing cocaine in a residence hall....well, gosh...I should have just looked the other way. Yep. I'm ashamed.

You should be ashamed. That is terrible, dude. I had dudes come in and use my room to snort crushed up Oxy's, I knew dudes selling shit down the hall. It was none of my business, it did not affect me in any way. Yes it's illegal, but I'd rather get busted for something I didn't do than go and snitch. I guess we just grew up differently.

chiefzilla1501 · 10-01-2010, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patteeu

OK, thanks for the honesty (about bias). Obviously we all have our biases based on what we think is the right thing to do. We'll just have to agree to disagree on what that is in this case. You think some sort of fairly serious jail time is warranted and I think something short of that but serious enough to make it clear that this isn't acceptable (e.g. kicking them out of school... maybe some community service) is enough to send the right message both to these two young adults and to others in their situation.

Maximum penalty, no.

So a slap in the wrist is enough penalty for 1) installing a hidden camera for the very blatant purpose of spying on the roommate, and knowing that there will be a little something extra on the side; 2) publicly broadcasting that video with the sole intent of humiliation?

I don't know the law very well, but I'd have to imagine that there is plenty of precedent for cases identical to this (minus the suicide)?

FAX · 10-01-2010, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

I had a Mormon roomate one year. I possessed the good judgement to take my trysts elsewhere. Just sayin'.

I knew a Mormon girl once (a couple of them, actually) ... they screwed like rabbits.

I mean exactly like rabbits ... with a carrot.

FAX

patteeu · 10-01-2010, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Kotter

Agreed. Espcially for roomates who insist on bringing their choices into the room into a shared room...

I probably should regret turning-in the coke-heads from across the hall during my freshman year at college....

What's wrong with you?

Brock · 10-01-2010, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patteeu

What's wrong with you?

Besides being a lying, phony, disingenuous rat?

09-29-2010, 11:34 PM
jAZ Supporter Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Tucson, AZ Casino cash: $9817493	Rutgers freshman suicide after roommate broadcast gay sexual encounter online? Wow. Prank gone waaay wrong. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...gers_post.html Rutgers freshman is presumed dead in suicide after roommate broadcast gay sexual encounter online Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 5:42 PM Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger PISCATAWAY — A Rutgers University freshman appears to have killed himself by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate broadcast live images of the 18-year-old having a sexual encounter with another man on the internet, according to campus and law enforcement sources. Tyler Clementi, 18, of Ridgewood, is presumed dead after his car, cell phone and computer were found near the George Washington Bridge last week, law enforcement sources said. His wallet was found on the walkway adjacent to the New York-bound lanes. In a statement released this afternoon, Clementi’s family confirmed the suicide and said his body has not been found. Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, and Molly Wei, 18, of Princeton, were charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy for setting up a camera in a dorm room on Sept. 19 and using it to view and transmit a live sex scene, said Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan. Paul Mainardi of Woodbury, the Clementi family's attorney, said Ravi and Clementi were roommates at Rutgers. Ravi's Twitter feed on that date referred to seeing his roommate have sex with another man in their room on the Piscataway campus, classmates said. "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay," Ravi said on his Twitter page in a Sept. 19 entry posted at 6:17 p.m. Two days later, Ravi posted another entry directing his nearly 150 Twitter followers to iChat, an internet messaging service with a live video feed. "Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it's happening again," Ravi wrote in the Sept. 21 post. Ravi's Twitter feed has since been taken down. But the entries survived in a cached version of the page still available through Google's search engine this afternoon. Prosecutors said Ravi and Wei set up a camera on Sept. 19 and broadcast live images of Clementi having a "sexual encounter." Ravi is also accused of trying unsuccessfully to broadcast a second sex scene Sept. 21. The Clementi family released a statement this afternoon. "Tyler was a fine young man, and a distinguished musician. The family is heartbroken beyond words. They respectfully request that they be given time to grieve their great loss and that their privacy at this painful time be respected by all," it said. "The family and their representatives are cooperating fully with the ongoing criminal investigations of two Rutgers University students," the statement said. Clementi was an accomplished violinist who had received a college scholarship from the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra for his musicianship and leadership. The violinist left a lasting impression with some in the Bergen County town, said Hiro Kagei, 17, who played in the orchestra with the teenager. A solo Clementi played in a concert last year "blew the audience away," he said. "Now that he’ dead, it’s sad to think we won’t hear something like that anymore," Kagei said. On the Rutgers campus, classmates described Clementi as quiet. At a mandatory dorm meeting called the day he was reported missing, only three students said they had spoken to Clementi since they moved into the dorm last month, according to students who were at the meeting. Ravi and Wei — who were classmates at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North before enrolling at Rutgers this fall — did not respond to e-mail requests to comment Tuesday. Steve Altman, Ravi’s attorney, also declined to comment. Ravi surrendered to Rutgers police Tuesday and was released on $25,000 bail, the prosecutor’s office said. Wei surrendered to the campus police Monday and was released on her own recognizance. Under New Jersey’s invasion-of-privacy laws, it is a fourth degree crime to collect or view images depicting nudity or sexual contact involving another individual without that person’s consent, the prosecutor said. It is a third degree crime to transmit or distribute the images. If the students are convicted on a third degree offense they could face up to five years in prison each under state law. Conviction on a fourth-degree crime could lead to probation or up to 18 months in prison.
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10-01-2010, 09:34 AM	#453
FAX testing ... 1, 2, 3 Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Tennessee Casino cash: $6753759	I have an idea. Maybe it would be good if people would just demonstrate some basic respect and stay the hell out of other peoples' private lives. FAX
Posts: 44,492