First of 37 Defendants in Fraternity Death Pleads Guilty

STROUDSBURG, Pa. — The first of 37 suspects charged in the fraternity hazing death of a New York City college student in eastern Pennsylvania has pleaded guilty.

Twenty-five-year-old Ka-Wing Yuen pleaded guilty Tuesday in Monroe County to conspiracy to hinder apprehension and conspiracy to haze for helping cover up the death of Chun “Michael” Deng.

Deng was an 18-year-old pledge of the Pi Delta Psi fraternity at Baruch College when he died in December 2013.

Police said fraternity members tackled and otherwise assaulted the blindfolded victim until he lay dying at a house the members rented in the Pocono Mountains, about 100 miles west of New York.

The five members allegedly most culpable in Deng’s death are awaiting trial on murder charges. Yuen was one of 32 others charged in the aftermath.