First Bowling Green student pleads guilty in hazing death of Stone Foltz
The first of eight Bowling Green students charged in the hazing death of sophomore Stone Foltz earlier this year has pleaded guilty.
As part of his plea agreement, Niall Sweeney, 21, on Thursday was found guilty of felony tampering with evidence rather than third-degree felony involuntary manslaughter — which he’d initially been charged with —and misdemeanor hazing, The Columbus Dispatch reports.
Sweeney, who will be sentenced in February and no longer required to wear an ankle monitor, was previously charged with eight counts of hazing, seven counts of failure to comply with underage alcohol laws and obstructing official business, all of which have been dropped, according to the outlet.
He was recommended for community control as opposed to jail time, given his cooperation, according to the outlet.
Though the plea “can’t bring Stone Foltz back,” it “sends a strong message that any act of hazing will not be tolerated in this great State,” attorneys for Foltz’s family said in a statement.
Foltz, 20, was hospitalized March 5 after consuming what was deemed by his family lawyer to be “a copious amount of alcohol” following the “Big Brother Night” at Pi Kappa Alpha, which he was rushing, the night prior, according to the outlet.
Foltz, who died of fatal alcohol intoxication on March 7, and fellow pledges were made to drink the equivalent about roughly 40 shots of hard liquor at that event, the paper reports.
The others charged in his death are Jacob Krinn, 20, Troy Henricksen, 23, Canyon Caldwell, 21, Dayley Dunson, 20, Jarret Prizel, 19, Aaron Lehane, 21, and Benjamin Boyers, 22.
