Newly shared evidence suggests that a Cornell University frat accused of drugging and raping a woman discussed the incident on the night of the alleged gang rape.
As reported by CBS News New York, explicit messages from a group chat on Snapchat on the night of the alleged incident showed one member of the Chi Phi fraternity asking, “Shop still open?” Another fraternity brother replied, “Yea.”
The woman, identified as Jane Doe in a civil lawsuit filed earlier this month, alleged that she was drugged and raped by multiple people in the Chi Phi fraternity house over several hours in 2024.
Doe has accused seven members of the fraternity of sexual assault, although none of the alleged perpetrators have been criminally charged. She initially reported the incident to Cornell University campus police, but prosecutors did not file charges. She claimed that the three men who sexually assaulted her later sent messages to a Snapchat group chat, telling Chi Phi members there was “free pussy” at the fraternity house.
The surfacing of the messages comes not long after Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten announced that the criminal investigation into the alleged rape would be reopened.
"I have been asked by the community to revisit the decision whether to pursue criminal charges against the seven fraternity members,” Van Houten wrote in a statement. “I have already begun that process, starting with our conversation with Jane Doe and her attorneys. Once we determine the appropriate charges, the case will be prosecuted in the most objective and impartial means available—by testimony to the Tompkins County Grand Jury.”
Over the weekend, former South Park writer Toby Morton also launched a website that exposes the names of the seven men accused of participating in the alleged assault. “Hello, Matthew Ingalls, Jonathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris, [and] Scott Kretzschmar,” reads his post announcing the website.
Sarabia, one of the students accused of sexual assault, has reportedly since been fired from his job at Wells Fargo.
