Central New York authorities say they are reopening the investigation of an alleged gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity in 2024 following a civil lawsuit filed earlier this month that generated public outrage over the case.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told ABC News in a story it broke early Monday that his office is considering whether to bring criminal charges but also noted that the alleged victim’s allegations in her lawsuit are “‘dramatically different’ than the woman’s statement to police two years ago.”
“It’s our intention to present the case to the Tompkins County grand jury with Jane Doe’s cooperation,” Van Houten said in a statement to the network.
He continued, “We want to reexamine whether there’s additional evidence that we were not aware of in November of 2024, that exists now that would change our assessment of the case and would result in the grand jury finding that there was criminal conduct.”
He explained why no charges were brought in 2024.
“She never says that she was drugged without her knowledge,” Van Houten said. “She admits to taking drugs and alcohol voluntarily and with knowledge. She does not allege that she was forced to engage in any acts. She does not say that she was physically helpless or unconscious or incapacitated at any point during the time at the fraternity house.”
The district attorney also acknowledged his office relied on the Cornell University Police investigation and didn’t independently investigate at the time.
According to the alleged victim’s attorney none of the men were arrested and only two were expelled, though the university will not confirm individual outcomes of its disciplinary board.
The renewal of the investigation comes less than two weeks after the former Cornell student’s lawsuit alleges that she was drugged, assaulted and gang raped by seven former and current members of the Chi Phi fraternity at Cornell, a group of young men one tabloid dubbed the “Cornell Seven.”
Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter was barred from campus after the alleged incident.
Cornell University immediately issued a statement Monday morning saying it “supports the decision” by the prosecutor to reopen the case and present it to a grand jury.
The statement also refuted the charge proliferating on social media that the frat brothers were slapped on the hand by the university and ordered to write essays for their punishment, an accusation made by the alleged victim’s attorneys.
Cornell said it had a panel “hear evidence” on the case over “multiple days.”
Cornell’s statement continued:
The complainant and respondents had the opportunity to testify and present evidence. At its conclusion, the hearing panel issued a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell. None of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement.
Thomas P. Giuffra, attorney for the alleged victim, who remained anonymous publicly as “Jane Doe,” disagreed with Van Houten’s characterization of the woman’s initial statement to the Cornell police. He blamed authorities for never following up with his client.
“In my experience, speaking with an abuse survivor requires delicacy, understanding and specialized training,” he told ABC News. “An average University Police officer would not have these skills. It would be the role of a specially trained detective or district attorney. “
“Ms. Doe was never contacted by anybody with those skills,” he added.
Van Houten said his office’s decision to not “independently investigate” the incident was in line with many upstate New York counties’ mode of handling such things.
The defendants named in the 101-page lawsuit include Cornell University and Chi Phi Fraternity, Inc., as well as seven fraternity brothers individually.
The lawsuit includes a screen shot of part of a Snapchat group in which the complaint alleges members of the fraternity discuss the incident. Giuffra claimed the messages are a “critical piece of evidence” that was provided to authorities in 2024.
The attorney stated:
My client went to the Cornell University Police because a crime was committed. It was the obligation of the police to investigate the complaints. They were given the group chat inviting the members of the fraternity to rape my client. This was a critical piece of evidence supporting that a crime had occurred. Despite this there was no follow-up with Ms. Doe either by the Cornell Police or the Tompkins County District Attorney.
Van Houten said that screen shot image was never presented to prosecutors.
The Cornell chapter of the fraternity closed in 2024, according to the school.
An attorney for Scott Kretzschmar, one of the defendant fraternity brothers, told ABC the incident detailed in the lawsuit “did not happen.”
“At bottom, Scott never sexually assaulted or even touched the plaintiff in any way. Period,” attorney Jeremy Saland told the network. “We look forward to confronting the plaintiff in a court of law for her selfishly false claims with both the evidence and her own words.”
Defendant Scott Norris also denied engaging in sexual activity or drug use, though he acknowledged that he sent a message that was included in the complaint.
“I did not participate in any sexual activity or drug use,” he said. “I was not found responsible by Cornell for any of the accusations involving sexual activity and drug use for which others received serious consequences.”
He continued through his attorney, “I thoughtlessly engaged in Snapchat and briefly stopped in the room where misconduct happened but not when it happened.”
The fraternity brothers have already been judged “guilty” by dozens of accounts proliferating on social media Monday morning.
However, a note of caution is warranted, as the Cornell case brings back memories of the infamous 2006 criminal alleged gang rape case where Duke University lacrosse players were falsely accused of sexually assaulting an exotic dancer at a team party in Durham, North Carolina.
Many observers in the then-new platforms of social media, along with the legacy news outlets, were quick to condemn the three young white defendants and believe the black dancer, even though she was reportedly under the influence of alcohol and drugs the night of the party.
However, when the case was over, the three men were exonerated and filed a lawsuit against the local district attorney, alleging he’d hatched a conspiracy against the young men to help him win an upcoming election.
Mike Nifong, the district attorney, was permanently disbarred in 2007, resigned as Durham DA, filed for bankruptcy and was jailed for one day for criminal contempt after a judge found he had lied about withholding DNA evidence in the case.
Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
