Maryland fraternity party could lead to $275,000 in fines

BETHESDA, Md. -- Two American University students are headed to court following an off-campus fraternity party that could see one of them fined for more than a quarter of a million dollars, CBS affiliate WUSA reported.

The January 15th party in Bethesda ended with police issuing alcohol citations to more than 100 underage drinkers.

Twenty-one-year-old Jamieson Tymann faces a March 10th court date after he allegedly punched a Montgomery County Police Officer in the chest and in the eye.

Tymann became agitated after an officer repeatedly asked him to leave the party. The fourth-year student is the President of Pi Kappa Alpha, an off-campus fraternity located at 5906 Walhonding Road.

The house is leased to 22-year-old Tyler Steinhardt. He now faces 110 counts of providing alcohol to minors.

When officers pulled up in front of the house, they saw two young men carrying an intoxicated 18-year-old woman to an Uber car. She was taken to the hospital to be treated for alcohol poisoning.

Sources told WUSA the inside of the house was trashed during the party, with beer seeping through the ceiling into the basement.

Police discovered 200 partygoers just on the first floor. Another 50 to 75 people were huddled in the garage.

Underage drinkers hid in closets, under beds and anywhere they could find when officers moved in, police said.

The house was so packed, investigators estimated the air temperature to be 100 degrees.

Alcohol was so abundant, a preliminary breath test registered .09, just in the ambient air. That's above the legal level of intoxication for a Maryland driver.

Providing alcohol to minors is not a criminal offense in the state of Maryland, so Steinhardt is charged with civil offenses. He faces fines up to $2,500 per underage partygoer, though he's unlikely to get a $275,000 penalty.

A spokeswoman for American University said the school has met with each of the students cited and referred their cases to what's known as AU Student Conduct.

The outcomes for the fraternity will be made available to the AU community, but any sanctions for individual students are not made public.