NEW YORK CITY — Prosecutors arraigned five members of a dissolved Baruch College fraternity Thursday on criminal charges, including third degree murder, over the death of student Michael Deng, according to the Monroe County District Attorney's office.
Charles Lai, Kenny Kwan, Raymond Lam, Daniel Li and Sheldon Wong were all charged with murder in the third degree, aggravated assault, concealing or destroying evidence, providing false information to law enforcement, simple assault, involuntary manslaughter, criminal conspiracy and hazing, the Monroe County DA said.
Bail for Wong, Lam, Kwan and Lai was set at $500,000. All but Lai posted and were released. Li was also released after paying his $150,000 bail.
Attorney Todd Greenberg, who is representing Lam, confirmed that his client, as well as the four others arraigned, all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
"We understand that this is a tragedy, and our deepest sympathies go out to the Deng family," Greenberg said. "Notwithstanding, we entered a plea of not guilty. Mr. Lam said he is not guilty of murder, and I believe the evidence points to that."
The five were arraigned in connection to the death of Chun Hsien "Michael" Deng, a 19-year-old student at Baruch College who died during a trip to the Poconos in December 2013 following a hazing ritual carried out by his fraternity brothers.
Members of the now-defunct Pi Delta Psi fraternity blindfolded Deng, forced him to carry a 30-pound backpack and hit him until he was knocked out. After neglecting to call authorities until about an hour after the incident, Deng was pronounced dead on Dec. 9, 2013 at a local Pennsylvania hospital.
Thirty-two other former fraternity members face lesser charges in the same case.
