By Tom Haydon/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger
PISCATAWAY NJ — The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office today announced a 15-count indictment has been filed against a student alleged to have set up a webcam to secretly view images of Tyler Clementi having an intimate encounter with another man just days before Clementi committed suicide.
The defendant, Dharun Ravi, 19, of Plainsboro, faces two counts each of invasion of privacy and attempted invasion of privacy, offenses that carry penalties of up to five years in prison, Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said in a statement today.
Also, Ravi was indicted on two counts of second-degree bias crimes and two counts of third-degree bias crimes. A grand jury also charged Ravi with three counts each of tampering with evidence and hindering his own apprehension, and a single count of witness tampering, the prosecutor said.
Dharun Ravi, left, has been indicted on charges of spying on his roommate Tyler Clementi, right, through a webcam just days before Clementi committed suicide.
Grand jurors found Ravi attempted to mislead investigators and witnesses in various ways, Kaplan said. He said the grand jury determined Ravi deleted a post on Twitter that alerted others to view Clementi and another man during their second encounter in a university dorm room on Sept. 21, 2010.
Ravi also tried to convince witnesses not to testify against him and provided investigators with misleading information, Kaplan said.
Authorities say Ravi used a computer in another room to activate a hidden webcam in his dorm room in Davidson Hall, on the Busch campus in Piscataway, on Sept. 19, 2010, and streamed images of his roommate with another man. Ravi allegedly tried to spy on the roommate again two days later using the hidden webcam.
Kaplan, in his statement, refers to the two people seen on the webcast as T.C. and M.B.
However, in the days after the webcast, news reports identified T.C. as Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman from Ridgewood who committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge, and the case gained international attention as an example of cyber bullying and gay bashing.
Jane and Joe Clementi, Tyler's parents, today put out a statement through their attorney, Brown & Connery, LLP.
"The grand jury indictment spells out cold and calculated acts against our son Tyler by his former college roommate," the Clementis said. "We are eager to have the process move forward for justice in this case and to reinforce the standards of acceptable conduct in our society."
Another student, Molly Wei, 19, of West Windsor, was also charged with invasion of privacy, but her case was not presented to the grand jury "at this time," Kaplan said. He said the charges against Wei are pending and the case remains active, but he did not say why it was not yet presented to the grand jury.
Students reportedly viewed Clementi with another man on Wei's computer.
Steve Altman, Ravi's attorney, has previously said the images were streamed on a computer for only a brief period of time and there was nothing sent beyond Wei's computer.
State Attorney General Paula Dow hailed the indictment today as step to stem bigotry.
"This indictment is an important step in this heartbreaking case. New Jersey's bias law recognizes the terrible harm caused by acts of bigotry and hatred and imposes harsher punishment on those who commit such crimes," Dow said in a statement.
Steven Goldstein, chair of Garden State Equality, New Jersey's largest gay rights organization, also praised the indictment:
"Without question, the indictment is in the best interests of justice and in the best interests of students across New Jersey, for their potential bullies will now think harder before demolishing another student’s life.
"We continue to mourn the loss of Tyler Clementi deeply. Today is a day of justice," Goldstein said.
Staff writer Kelly Heyboer contributed to this report.
Source: NJ.com