Naperville Men Among 22 Former Frat Member Sentenced in Hazing Case

The 22 Northern Illinois University fraternity members accused in the hazing death of a Palatine High School graduate were sentenced Friday to pay fines and complete community service, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

David Bogenbeger died in November 2012 at the NIU Pi Kappa Alpha house after officials said frat members goaded David into drinking a dangerous amount of vodka over 90 minutes at a party. The case is being referred to as the largest hazing case in U.S. history, according to media reports.

David, an NIU freshman, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.351—almost five times over the legal limit—when he was found unresponsive at the house the morning after. David, who had an enlarged heart, died of an arrhythmia caused by the excessive alcohol, according to the DeKalb County coroner.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports four of the former frat members were convicted of reckless conduct, a misdemeanor, include: Alexender Jandick, 23, of Naperville; James Harvey, 23, of Northfield, who was the frat’s vice president; Steven Libert, 23, of Naperville; and Omar Salameh, 24, of Burbank, who was pledge adviser. Patrick Merrill of Boston, the fraternity’s secretary at the time of the death, entered a guilty plea to a charge of reckless conduct.

All five were sentenced to pay a $1,000 fine and serve 100 hours of community service, according to the article.

The seventeen other fraternity members involved in the hazing case were convicted of misdemeanor hazing charges and sentenced to pay a $500 fine and to serve 100 hours of community service, according to the DeKalb Daily Chronicle.

Gary Bogenberger, the father of David, became emotional as he addressed a packed courtroom in DeKalb County follwing the sentencing Friday, the Daily Chronicle reports.

“You planned an event that was abusive, humiliating, degrading and endangering for David and his fellow pledges. You didn’t care one iota for David’s or the other pledges’ well-being, but rather only for your own self-gratification in seeing David demeaned and incapacitated to the point of death,” he is quoted as saying in the Daily Chronicle.

The Bogenbergers also have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the national fraternity, the NIU chapter and the fraternity officers and others at the party.

“We have no desire for revenge,” according to a family statement quoted in the Daily Herald. “Rather, we hope that some significant change will come from David’s death. Alcohol poisoning claims far too many young, healthy lives. We must recognize that young people can and do die in hazing rituals.”

READ: Lawsuit Filed in Palatine NIU Student Hazing Death

Read More About the David Bogenberger’s Hazing Death on Patch:

• Defendants in David Bogenberger Hazing Case Plead Not Guilty
• New Details Emerge in NIU Hazing Death
• Judge Dismisses Drinking-Death Lawsuit Against NIU Fraternity