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[SUPREME1]

...by his roomate(s).


Damn. How awful.

A Rutgers University freshman posted a goodbye message on his Facebook page before jumping to his death after his roommate secretly filmed him during a "sexual encounter" in his dorm room and posted it live on the Internet.

Items belonging to 18-year-old Rutgers student Tyler Clementi were found by the George Washington Bridge last week, according to authorities. Clementi's freshman ID card and driver's license were in the wallet.

Clementi's post on his Facebook page, dated Sept. 22 at 8:42 p.m. read, "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry."

Clementi's body has not been recovered, but police have pulled an unidentified male body from the Hudson River just north of the bridge.

Paul Mainardi, the attorney representing the Clementi family, released a statement confirming Clementi's suicide.

"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," Mainardi said.

Two students, Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, have been charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy after allegedly placing a camera in Clementi's room and livestreaming the recording online on Sept. 19, according to a written statement by New Jersey's Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan.

A Twitter page that appears to have been operated by Ravi but has since been taken offline shows messages in which the accused student takes credit for the alleged videotaping of Clementi.

On Sept. 19, Ravi appears to tweet, "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 faces two additional counts of invasion of privacy for allegedly attempting to use the camera to view and transmit another sexual encounter involving the same student just two days later, said Kaplan.

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

Clementi's lawyer said the family is cooperating with the ongoing criminal investigation inro Ravi and Wei's alleged actions.

Jim O'Neill, the public information officer for Kaplan's office, declined to comment on the case.

Both Wei and Ravi surrendered to police. Wei has been released on her own recognizance and Ravi posted $25,000 bail

Under New Jersey's invasion-of-privacy statutes, it is a fourth degree crime to collect or view images depicting nudity or sexual contact involving another individual without that person's consent, and it is a third degree crime to transmit or distribute such images. The penalty for conviction of a third degree offense can include a prison term of up to five years.

Lawyers for both Wei and Ravi did not respond to messages left by ABC News.


ABC News' Aaron Katarsky and Shimon Prokupecz contributed to this story.

What a stressful situation if had not been open about his homosexuality.

 

[Stinkles]

Hope the douchebag reaps what he sowed.

 

[Imm0rt4l]

Make out session? Given the guy jumped off a bridge he probably got caught fucking a fat bitch an everybody knows about it now. Really shitty thing of his room mates to do.

Edit: re-read it was a guy

 

[Jeff-DSA]

Give him the full five years. What a dick.

 

[samus i am]

Wow, terrible news. Also, his message on facebook was shockingly similar to the updates I make about going to the bar.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

This makes me angry. Really fucking angry. Angry that we live in a world where people are too afraid of being persecuted for their sexuality that they feel like they have to hide it, and angry that there are other people who would persecute them.

Fuck this shit.

 

[ChiTownBuffalo]

Hope the douchebag reaps what he sowed.

I dunno if they allow webcams in prison, and certainly not to tape an prison rape.

 

[jon bones]

douche bag indian rutgers student did it?

not surprised

 

[Zoator]

It was a bad situation and his roommate is a dick, but I think he may have overreacted just a tad...

 

[whytemyke]

This sounds stupid but I doubt the roomie meant to kill the guy. I doubt he thought his roommate would kill himself over that coming out.

I don't support him being an asshole but I don't support the guy going to jail, either. Maybe if we could just find somebody to beat the piss out of him? That'd be a good middle-ground in my book.

 

[Ferrio]

Make out session? More like he got caught fucking a fat bitch an everybody knows about it now. Really shitty thing of his room mates to do.

Caught with a guy....

I can't imagine how someone can be some embarrassed they'd wanna kill themselves...

This sounds stupid but I doubt the roomie meant to kill the guy. I doubt he thought his roommate would kill himself over that coming out.

I don't support him being an asshole but I don't support the guy going to jail, either. Maybe if we could just find somebody to beat the piss out of him? That'd be a good middle-ground in my book.

Agreed, no reason to ruin another person's life. What he did was assholish, but the blame for the suicide lays 100% on the victim.

 

[mYm|17|]

what a scumbag

 

[Prince of Space]

This reads like the plot of The Virginity Hit gone horribly wrong.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Make out session? Given the guy jumped off a bridge he probably got caught fucking a fat bitch an everybody knows about it now. Really shitty thing of his room mates to do.

I think they caught him making out with a dude.

 

[Aaronology]

Make out session? More like he got caught fucking a fat bitch an everybody knows about it now. Really shitty thing of his room mates to do.

It seems he was having sex with a guy. Being outted via a hidden cam that's live streaming across the net is... yeah, that's horrible.

 

[Imm0rt4l]

It was a dude.

just re-read that, missed that part smh.

 

[Fixed1979]

Make out session? Given the guy jumped off a bridge he probably got caught fucking a fat bitch an everybody knows about it now. Really shitty thing of his room mates to do.

On Sept. 19, Ravi appears to tweet, "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."

.

EDIT: Way beaten...

That's some shitty goings on, you should always assume that if there's a camera in the room that it's on (assuming the camera wasn't hidden)...

 

[funkmastergeneral]

This sounds stupid but I doubt the roomie meant to kill the guy. I doubt he thought his roommate would kill himself over that coming out.

I don't support him being an asshole but I don't support the guy going to jail, either. Maybe if we could just find somebody to beat the piss out of him? That'd be a good middle-ground in my book.

He's potentially going to jail because he secretly taped someone having sex, which is against the law. He's not getting charged because the kid jumped off a bridge.

 

[levious]

This sounds stupid but I doubt the roomie meant to kill the guy. I doubt he thought his roommate would kill himself over that coming out.

I don't support him being an asshole but I don't support the guy going to jail, either. Maybe if we could just find somebody to beat the piss out of him? That'd be a good middle-ground in my book.

he's not being charged with the death, only the act of taping/broadcasting.

 

[jon bones]

having had the incredible displeasure of visiting Rutgers a bunch of times (i'm from Central Jersey, so I had friends who went there) i can tell you it's pretty unsurprising

the sheer volume of homophobic Neil Patels (a term i coined to describe the Indian Guido - loves hair gel and wearing button downs with graphic prints on em, starts fights at Indian get togethers, etc) at RU is hilarious from a distance and terrifying from within

 

[offshore]

How horrible

 

[The Orange]

Eh, Ravi is a he? Probably is though, since it was a roommate, no mixed rooms I guess.

 

[Dresden]

I wonder just what kind of an environment this guy grew up in, for kissing a guy to be so shameful. Poor guy.

 

[Guevara]

D-bag roommate and co-conspirator:

 

[Dresden]

D-bag roommate and co-conspirator:

The girl is cute.

THAT EVIL BITCH

but cute.

 

[DY_nasty]

That girl is too cute to get 5 years.

 

[funkmastergeneral]

D-bag roommate and co-conspirator:

That's a definite WOULD in regards to the co-conspirator.

 

[Guevara]

The girl is cute.

THAT EVIL BITCH

but cute.

Eh, she looks like she is wearing a mask over her real demon face. That or she is the Mask Salesman's daughter from Majora's Mask.

 

[Meeru]

the problem lies that the victim commited suicide. if he hadnt, this news wouldnt matter

 

[Advance_Alarm]

It's not the other dudes fault the guy killed himself. He could've manned up and either gotten pissed or just took it like the joke it was. Pretty sad that people kill themselves over stupid shit and if his parents didn't know that's some crazy stuff to wake up to.

 

[ChiTownBuffalo]

Does anyone know what the girl was charged with?

I guess it all depends on if she knew what Ravi had planned.

 

[ChiTownBuffalo]

It's not the other dudes fault the guy killed himself. He could've manned up and either gotten pissed or just took it like the joke it was. Pretty sad that people kill themselves over stupid shit and if his parents didn't know that's some crazy stuff to wake up to.

Everything must appear horrible to you in over there in Charmed Life Land.

 

[sweetvar26]

Sad news

 

[Wario64]

lol the girl is not cute

I guess it's cause she's asian right

 

[OpinionatedCyborg]

young people do stupid shit...

 

[Aaronology]

It's not the other dudes fault the guy killed himself. He could've manned up and either gotten pissed or just took it like the joke it was. Pretty sad that people kill themselves over stupid shit and if his parents didn't know that's some crazy stuff to wake up to.

This would have been a mean joke if the guy was straight. Or maybe if he was openly gay. It seems like he was fairly closeted, though. I was outed to my family as a teenager and it remains one of the worst moments of my life. I can't imagine what it was like to've been streamed live across the internet and to an entire school.

 

[Snaku]

D-bag roommate and co-conspirator:

More like Molly Would.

 

[DY_nasty]

It's not the other dudes fault the guy killed himself. He could've manned up and either gotten pissed or just took it like the joke it was. Pretty sad that people kill themselves over stupid shit and if his parents didn't know that's some crazy stuff to wake up to.

You're gonna get flamed.

But as someone said earlier, the only reason that those two are getting charged is because their little prank ended up with someone killing themselves.

 

[Kentpaul]

Sounds like the guy and his boyfriend shoulda just went to a bar and got a 12 pack down them and felt like a million bucks

 

[soco]

It's not the other dudes fault the guy killed himself. He could've manned up and either gotten pissed or just took it like the joke it was. Pretty sad that people kill themselves over stupid shit and if his parents didn't know that's some crazy stuff to wake up to.

i wouldn't exactly call someone broadcasting you having sex without you knowing as "stupid shit".

 

[elrechazado]

douche bag indian rutgers student did it?

not surprised

Why is his being indian not surprising to you?

 

[informer07]

the sheer volume of homophobic Neil Patels (a term i coined to describe the Indian Guido - loves hair gel and wearing button downs with graphic prints on em, starts fights at Indian get togethers, etc) at RU is hilarious from a distance and terrifying from within

So true.

 

[jmdajr]

I just read about this....

fucking .. fucking.....terrible.

 

[Escape Goat]

Its awful to live in a state where you feel the only way to make the pain stop is to kill yourself. I would be lieing if I said I didn't think about it when I was coming to terms with my sexuality. I knew I was but I would cry and blame and curse God (even though i didn't believe), and I would think how much relief there would be if I could just take it all away.

I have ultra conservative military parents so things like sexuality were never discussed. Parents always tell their kids they can "tell them anything" but there are things you just know they can't handle or that didn't fit under the "anything' umbrella. You feel alone, confused and no way to fit in.

Turns out my parents came to understand and accept it. They didn't disown me or say I was going to Hell. My dad says it doesn't matter, its a person's actions that determine their character and although hes a pretty conservative, Fox News watching man he says its okay to disagree with him and admits he doesn't always have the answers.

In short, when you have kids make sure you can relate to them. Do more than say "You can come to me about anything" but you know, gay or straight, there are things you thought your parents couldn't accept. Having a strong support structure at home probably would have prevented this young man from killing himself as he woudl already feel complete within himself, at peace. Instead he chose a short cut to that peace in death.

 

[Mystic Theurge]

Does anyone know what the girl was charged with?

I guess it all depends on if she knew what Ravi had planned.

Molly was charged with two counts of invasion of privacy while Ravi was charged with four.

I hope the charges stick. The both of them deserve to rot in jail for a while.

 

[2San]

D-bag roommate and co-conspirator:

Well that fucks up their future employment. >_>

the problem lies that the victim commited suicide. if he hadnt, this news wouldnt matter

Isn't that the same as drunk driving? If you are caught drunk while driving it isn't nearly as bad if you cause an accident while being drunk. It's all fun and games till someone gets hurt. Though this situation is different. I don't think they need to be charged with anything but the invasion of privacy and filming an sexual encounter.

 

[jmdajr]

having had the incredible displeasure of visiting Rutgers a bunch of times (i'm from Central Jersey, so I had friends who went there) i can tell you it's pretty unsurprising

the sheer volume of homophobic Neil Patels (a term i coined to describe the Indian Guido - loves hair gel and wearing button downs with graphic prints on em, starts fights at Indian get togethers, etc) at RU is hilarious from a distance and terrifying from within

these people exist?

 

[DY_nasty]

The both of them deserve to rot in jail for a while.

Not really.

 

[rvy]

D-bag roommate and co-conspirator:

It's that chick from Bones!

 

[speculawyer]

Trivia: Did you know Laura Ingraham outed students to their parents when she went to Dartmouth?

In her senior year, she was the newspaper's editor-in-chief,[3] its first female editor.[2] She wrote a few controversial articles during her tenure, such as a piece characterizing a campus gay rights group as "cheerleaders for latent campus Sodomites". She also secretly tape recorded the organization's meetings, and sent copies to the participants' parents.[4][5]