Drug arrest at Cornell fraternity hours before alleged sexual assault
Cornell University police arrested someone at the Chi Phi fraternity for a drug offence just 22 hours before a former student alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted there.
Drug arrest at Chi Phi house preceded alleged assault by 22 hours
Cornell University police made a drug-related arrest at the Chi Phi fraternity house 22 hours before a former student alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted there, according to police records reviewed by nbcnews.com.
Campus officers responded to the fraternity shortly after 1 a.m. on 19 October 2024, made the arrest and referred an individual to the university's Office of Student Conduct. The archived police log does not identify the person arrested, the drugs involved, or any direct link between that incident and the alleged assault later that same night.
The former Cornell student, identified as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit last month against the university and seven Chi Phi brothers. She alleges she was sexually assaulted over the course of several hours while under the influence of ketamine, alcohol and marijuana.
In a separate police interview documented in records obtained by NBC News, a witness told investigators she had seen a fraternity member in possession of a bag of ketamine approximately two months before the alleged assault. She also said he had previously overdosed and been transported for treatment, though the records do not specify when that occurred.
Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff addressed the case in a video message on Saturday, describing Jane Doe's allegations as "deeply disturbing" and raising questions about the investigation that followed. "I believe we as an administration, and we as a community, must do better," he said.
NBC News reported Friday that Cornell police interviewed witnesses and received anonymous tips in the initial weeks of the investigation. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, however, did not review that additional information before deciding not to bring charges. Van Houten said he based his decision solely on Jane Doe's initial six-page statement to police, which he argued did not allege criminality.
Her attorney, Thomas Giuffra, has said authorities failed to conduct a thorough investigation and prejudged the events based on her statement that she had consented to parts of the night.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to assess whether criminal charges are appropriate. At a news conference on Friday, Hochul questioned the district attorney's handling of the case. "In what world does the district attorney not even interview her or anyone else involved, or even request the full transcript" of her interview, she said.
Cornell University and its police department had not responded to NBC News' requests for comment at the time of publication.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)