Five former fraternity members sentenced in hazing death of Ohio college student
Three former fraternity members were sentenced Thursday to jail terms for their roles in the hazing death of a Bowling Green State University student, while two others were ordered to serve house arrest.
Jarrett Prizel, 19, of Olean, New York; Daylen Dunson, 22, of Cleveland, Ohio; and Ben Boyers, 21, of Sylvania, Ohio, had all pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and hazing counts. Dunson and Boyers also pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, while Dunson also admitted to tampering with evidence.
Niall Sweeney, 21, of Erie, Pennsylvania, and Aaron Lehane, 21, of Loveland, Ohio, both pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and hazing, while Lehane also admitted to obstructing official business.
The charges stemmed from the March 2021 death of Stone Foltz, 20, a sophomore from Delaware, Ohio.
Authorities have said Foltz died of alcohol poisoning after a fraternity initiation event in which he was hazed into finishing an entire bottle of alcohol. He was found unconscious by a roommate after members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity dropped him off at his apartment.
Foltz died three days after he was put on life support.
Prizel was sentenced to 28 days in jail and two years' probation. Dunson received a 21-day jail term and three years of probation, while Sweeney was given a 14-day jail sentence and two years of probation. All three were also sentenced to serve 28 days of house arrest.
Boyers and Lehane were each sentenced to 28 days of house arrest and two years' probation.
Sentencing is pending for three other former fraternity members, Troy Henricksen, Jacob Krinn and Canyon Caldwell. Those sentenced this week had accepted a plea deal that involved testifying against Henricksen and Krinn, who were both acquitted in May of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide, but found guilty of multiple counts of hazing and related offenses.
In a statement they issued Thursday, Foltz's parents, Shari and Cory Foltz, noted that each sentencing marked conclusions for five of the former fraternity members. But the couple said "there will be no closure for our family until hazing is permanently eradicated on college campuses."
Shari and Cory Foltz last spoke to their 20-year-old son shortly before the fraternity initiation ritual was held.
"He had said to me, 'Yeah, we have a drinking ritual that we have to go to and I'm not looking forward to it. I don't want to do it.' My response is 'then don't' and he said, that's rituals. You have to do them. That's every fraternity. Of course, I never thought in a million years that it was that type of ritual," Shari told CBS News' Mola Lenghi last year.
Lenghi asked the parents: "What does peace and justice look like?"
"To us, it's to hold those accountable for what has happened because, you know, the fraternity hazing that's going on, it's unacceptable. It truly is abuse. It's the parent's worst nightmare," Shari said.