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Fifth Person Arrested After Fraternity Hazing Death in Albany, N.Y.

A fifth person was arrested Friday morning in connection with the hazing death of a 19-year-old fraternity pledge last November, Albany police said.
Keith Rosengarten was arrested in connection with an alcohol-related death in Albany.
Keith Rosengarten was arrested in connection with an alcohol-related death in Albany.Albany Police Department

A fifth person has been arrested in connection with the hazing death of a 19-year-old fraternity pledge last November, police told NBC News.

Keith Rosengarten, 20, turned himself into Albany police Friday morning and was charged with first-degree hazing, a misdemeanor.

IMAGE: Students arrested in alcohol-related death in Albany, New York
Students arrested in connection with an alcohol-related death in Albany, New York, from left to right: Keith Rosengarten, Olaf Jablonski, Yuval Sucov, Steven Villa and Jonathan Maldonado.Albany, New York, Police Department

The charge comes after Olaf Jablonski and Yuval Sucov, both 20, were arrested Wednesday; both are former students at the State University of New York at Albany, NBC station WNYT reported.

Jonathan Maldonado, 21, who is identified as a student on his arrest report, was charged the next day, along with Steven Vila, 22. All four are accused of first-degree hazing.

According to arrest reports, the pledge, Trevor Duffy, was attending what they called an initiation for "Zeta Beta Tau" on the night of Nov. 15.

"Duffy, along with other initiants, was required, ordered, and encouraged to drink 1.75 liters of alcohol of their choice," police reports say.

By 2 a.m., Duffy, who had a blood alcohol level more than seven times the legal limit, was unconscious and the police were on their way. Along with several other pledges, the reports say, Duffy was transported to Albany Medical Center, where he died of anoxic encephalopathy.

Police described the fraternity as "unsanctioned," and in a release last year, Zeta Beta Tau's national office in Indianapolis said that the students were "not affiliated" with the fraternity or with its local "colony" at the University at Albany.

"Any use of the Zeta Beta Tau name by this group of men is without permission," the release said.

Efforts to reach the five men Sunday were unsuccessful. Albany police spokesman Steven Smith said additional arrests are expected this week.