A former Beta Theta Pi brother plead guilty today to actions stemming from the night of pledge Timothy Piazza’s death.
This plea makes 17 former brothers who’ve come before a judge admitting guilt to all or some of the charges brought against them.
The most recent brother to plead guilty is 21-year-old Michael Bonatucci.
Bonatucci entered court today with three separate dockets of charges against him.
The state Attorney General’s office agreed to drop one docket. The remaining two each had a total of 28 charges, including five reckless endangerment charges, 14 hazing charges, four charges of furnishing alcohol to minors, and five other charges related to alcohol.
Of those, Bonatucci plead guilty to three counts of hazing and one count of conspiracy to commit hazing.
The state Attorney General’s office agreed to this plea.
Bonatucci’s exact sentencing date has not been finalized. The court is looking to schedule his sentencing during the first week of April.
There’s another brother who was listed on the court’s online schedule to plead guilty today, however 21-year-old Nicholas Kubera already plead guilty on January 7.
Court paperwork indicates there were multiple scheduling conflicts causing the date of Kubera’s plea to be moved twice.
He was facing two dockets worth of charges, each with 31 charges, including reckless endangerment, hazing, furnishing alcohol to minors, and other alcohol related charges.
Of those charges, Kubera plead guilty to three counts of hazing and one count of conspiracy to commit hazing.
Kubera’s sentencing is scheduled for March 26.
Both former brothers faced charges directly related to former pledge Timothy Piazza. It’s unclear at the moment if the charges they plead guilty to are connected to Piazza and how this will impact their sentencing.
Today in court, Brian Zarallo, from the state Attorney General’s office, wanted to be clear that the brother who plead guilty was following the directions of pledge master Daniel Casey, which our legal analyst has previously indicated, would show that the state Attorney General is looking to make their biggest case against fraternity leadership.
