By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The roommate of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers student who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge after his classmates broadcast a video of him in a gay sexual encounter, was indicted Wednesday on more than a dozen criminal counts related to the suicide.
Dharun Ravi, 19, was originally charged with invasion of privacy after he and another freshman, Molly Wei, 19, allegedly posted online a secretly taped video of Clementi. But on Wednesday, prosecutors indicted Ravi on 15 criminal counts, including bias intimidation, witness tampering and evidence tampering.
The indictment accuses Ravi of attempting to mislead investigators by deleting a Twitter post about Clementi and then replacing it with a fake, according to a statement by the Middlesex County District Attorney's office. It also accused the New Jersey native of trying to discourage witnesses from testifying against him.
Evidence against Wei, who had also been charged with invasion of privacy, was not presented to the grand jury, though the DA's office noted that the case was still active.
Clementi, 18, a promising violinist, jumped off the George Washington Bridge in September last year.
Clementi's suicide prompted a heartfelt address from talk show host and gay activist Ellen DeGeneres and the recording of an original track by several Broadway stars, with the message for gay teens that "it gets better."
