Penn State frat ex-leaders, including Long Islander Daniel Casey, will spend time in jail for roles in hazing death of Timothy Piazza

Two former Penn State University students, one from Long Island, were sentenced this week to two-to-four months in prison for their roles in a 2017 fraternity hazing incident that left a sophomore pledge dead.

Former Beta Theta Pi vice president and pledge master Daniel Casey, 27, of Ronkonkoma, and former fraternity president Brendan Young, 28, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, each pleaded guilty in July to 14 counts of hazing and a single count of reckless endangerment related to the incident. Pledge Timothy Piazza, a 19-year-old engineering student from Lebanon, New Jersey, died after consuming what authorities said was at least 18 drinks in less than a two-hour span as part of his indoctrination.

In addition to the prison time, Casey and Young were sentenced to three years probation followed by community service during the proceedings Tuesday in Centre County Court in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.

The attorney representing Casey, Steven P. Trialonas, of the Mazza Law Group in State College, Pennsylvania, did not immediately return email and phone requests seeking comment.

More than a dozen fraternity members previously pleaded guilty to hazing and alcohol violations in the case, while authorities said a number of others entered a program for first-time offenders.

Prosecutors initially hoped to press more serious charges against Casey and Young, including involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault, but were unable to get those charges approved by the court. Since the incident, Penn State has banned the fraternity and Pennsylvania lawmakers have passed legislation to make severe forms of hazing a felony — even allowing for the confiscation of fraternity houses where hazing has occurred, authorities said.

That legislation is known as the Timothy Piazza Anti-Hazing Law.

The organization that monitors fraternity and sorority conduct was moved to Penn State in 2019 and is now the Piazza Center at Penn State. Previously based at Indiana University from 1976-2019, the center produces a survey called the National Fraternity and Sorority Scorecard.

In August, Newsday reported that for the 2020-21 academic year, the most-recent scorecard available, of the 99 participating college and university campuses reflecting 1,593 fraternity, 1,285 sorority and 58 co-ed organization chapters, 15.3% of chapters at private nonprofit schools reported conduct violations, while 16.9% — or 242 chapters — reported violations at public institutions.

Though no breakdown was available, the executive summary said violations included alcohol, hazing and "organizational activity that led to sexual misconduct, and other organizational misconduct such as physical altercations."

In the Piazza case, prosecutors said the sophomore and 13 others seeking to join Beta Theta Pi consumed at least 18 drinks and security camera footage showed the dead pledge's final hours, which included a fall down basement steps that required him being carried back upstairs.

According to a statement released by Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle A. Henry this week, Piazza was later found "unresponsive," and died days later from what were described as "multiple falls incurred subsequent to his intoxication."

In that statement announcing the sentencing of Casey and Young, Henry said: "Our thoughts are with the Piazza family and everyone affected by this tragedy. Nothing can undo the harm Tim suffered seven years ago — nothing can bring Tim back to his family and friends. With the sentences ordered today, the criminal process reached a conclusion."

With AP

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”