DA reopens investigation into 7 Cornell fraternity brothers who allegedly drugged, raped student

Central New York prosecutors are reopening an investigation into sickening allegations that seven Cornell University brothers horribly drugged and gang raped a former student.

Tompkins County Prosecutor Matthew Van Houten told ABC News his office is considering criminal charges related to the case – after the nightmare described in a civil suit filed by the survivor sparked outrage online.

The September 14 lawsuit alleged that the victim, identified only as Jane Doe, was forced to take drugs, assaulted and raped by several men – Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar – at the Chi Phi fraternity house in Cornell in 2024.

That night, Newell allegedly invited other fraternity brothers to join in the abuse, sending a Snapchat message about “free py” to a “Chi Phi Actives” group, after Doe was nearly incapacitated, a screenshot included in the lawsuit shows.

Van Houten told the outlet, however, that the allegations in the civil complaint were “drastically different” from the woman’s statement after the alleged gang rape.

“We intend to present the case to the Tompkins County grand jury with the cooperation of Jane Doe,” Van Houten told the news outlet.

“We want to reconsider whether there is additional evidence now that we were not aware of in November 2024 that would change our assessment of the case and lead the grand jury to conclude that there was criminal conduct.”

The prosecutor added that he relied heavily on the Cornell University police investigation and revealed that his office did not “independently investigate” the alleged heinous incident.

Van Houten also said a group chat in the complaint was never provided to his office, which Thomas P. Giuffra, Jane Doe’s attorney, said was a “critical piece of evidence” turned over to authorities two years ago.

Giuffra also disputed Van Houten’s characterization of her statement and said authorities never acted on her, especially someone who had specialized training in sexual abuse.

“In my experience, speaking with an abuse survivor requires sensitivity, understanding and specialized training. An average university police officer would not have these skills. This would be the role of a specially trained detective or prosecutor. However, Ms. Doe has never been contacted by anyone with these skills,” he told the outlet.

“My client went to the Cornell University police because a crime had been committed. The police had an obligation to investigate the complaints. They received a group chat inviting fraternity members to rape my client,” he said.

“This was a crucial piece of evidence confirming that a crime had occurred. Despite this, there was no follow-up with Ms. Doe, either by the Cornell Police Department or the Tompkins County Prosecutor.”

The shocking 101-page lawsuit, first reported by The Post on September 18, details an alleged night of terror for the then-20-year-old student that began with a night out with her sorority sisters and ended with an unspeakable, hours-long sexual assault at the prestigious Ivy League college in Ithaca.

After a night of bar-hopping, the young woman, who no longer attended the top university, met one of the defendants, Ingalls, at a Tudor-style fraternity house, her lawsuit says.

When she declined his offer of a threesome with two fraternity brothers, he allegedly pressured her into snorting ketamine for the first time in her life, while ingesting marijuana and heavy-duty rum, according to court documents.

Ingalls and Newell then allegedly “began engaging in sexual acts with the plaintiff, all without her consent,” including oral and vaginal sex, the filing states.

When one fraternity brother left, another, Lopes, entered to take his place, according to the lawsuit.

After the nauseating Snapchat message at 1:42 a.m. in which Newell allegedly encouraged others to join in the assault, fraternity members began pouring lines of ketamine all over the woman’s body and snorting them, according to court documents.

One of them poured a dash of powder “on his erect penis and ordered the plaintiff to sniff it, which she did,” the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit claims the assault continued until 5:45 a.m., after which Jane Doe lost consciousness.

The attack was reported to campus and Ithaca police about a week later, and the fraternity and defendants Ingalls, Newell, Lee, Lopes, Sarabia, Norris and Kretzschmar were temporarily suspended, according to the lawsuit.

The elite school then offered the accused fraternity boys a chance to “mitigate their conduct by submitting essays,” according to the deeply disturbing filing, which also names several Chi Phi fraternity organizations, several sorority organizations, the former president of Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter, a local bar and other unnamed individuals.

In the weeks since the lawsuit was filed, several lawmakers, celebrities and social media users have blasted the Cornell administration and the district attorney’s office for the lack of consequences.

Cornell said it investigated the allegations at the time in accordance with its university’s policies and that the Xi chapter of the Chi Phi fraternity remained banned from campus.

“We take sexual violence extremely seriously,” Kyle Kimball, Cornell’s vice president for university relations, said in a Sept. 21 statement. “The President’s Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault was launched shortly after this incident and released a report in March 2026.”

The March report found that 35% of female undergraduates at Cornell reported having had nonconsensual sexual contact in 2025, compared to 23% in 2023.

The university said it was unable to comment further on Doe’s allegations due to federal privacy laws and would instead respond “in detail through the legal process.”

At a town hall with students from Cornell and Ithaca College on Sunday, Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted the university for protecting the “sexual assault factory” that she said plagues academia.

“I want to be clear that the culture of rape, sexual assault and pedophilia is protected at elite institutions across the United States, including at Cornell University in this case,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

“This has to stop. This entire country is sick and tired of leaders who are not only financially corrupt, but morally corrupt at every institution,” she told the crowd, recalling instances where she was “horrified” by inappropriate sexual behavior she witnessed while a student at Boston University.

“I felt like I was in a sexual assault factory at that moment. It was a sexual assault factory,” the congresswoman said.

“The fact that she had to lose her education and these men were protected by an institution and got an Ivy League degree as a reward? Never again,” she said of Doe’s case.

Actress Florence Pugh also released a statement saying she felt “uncomfortable, sick and anxious” after learning about the gang rape.

“Colleges/schools/universities are repeatedly failing women everywhere. You are building men who are taught over and over again that they can do extreme harm and will receive no harm in return,” Pugh wrote in an Instagram post.

“There is no equality until you respect our bodies. There is no equality until you stop damaging our souls… We are the life force of this earth, start protecting us. Be angry for us. Please.”

Van Houten, of the Cornell University Police Department, did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Kretzschmar’s attorney called the lawsuit “not only intentionally dishonest but morally repugnant” and said he would “welcome any further investigation by the district attorney who has already decided not to file charges” in a statement to the Post.

“Although Scott made an immature comment on Snapchat, he did nothing further,” his attorney Jeremy Saland said. “During the few minutes he was in the room with the plaintiff, Scott did not see her under duress or undress, did not participate in any sexual activity, did not touch the plaintiff in any way, and did not ingest any ketamine.”

“The prosecutor reported that the complainant never said that she was drugged without her knowledge, admitted to voluntarily consuming alcohol and drugs and acknowledged that she was not forced to engage in any act,” he continued. “Equally shocking and knowingly hidden from these young men, the plaintiff did not assert that she was helpless, unconscious or incapacitated at any time in the fraternity house.

“The plaintiff can peddle any story she wants, but intentionally victimizing an innocent person for a money grab is wrong,” Saland added.

Attorney information for the other men named in the lawsuit was not available at the time of publication.

Additional reporting by Vaughn Golden.