A former Rutgers University freshman who prosecutors said used a webcam to spy on his roommate’s same-sex encounter was charged April 20 with a hate crime and accused of deleting tweets and texts to cover up his tracks.
Dharun Ravi, 19, was indicted in Middlesex County on 15 counts including bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in events that predated the suicide of 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, who in death started a national conversation on the perils of bullying.
Ravi had already faced invasion of privacy charges along with another Rutgers student, Molly Wei.
It took prosecutors months to present their case to a grand jury alleging that Ravi targeted Clementi because of his sexual orientation and tried to broadcast the encounter online to intimidate his roommate.