How a College Kid Livestreamed His Roommate's Gay Sexual Encounter, Possibly Causing Suicide (Updated)
Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, both 18, have been charged with planting a webcam in a Rutgers dorm and broadcasting a classmate's sexual encounter. The classmate is believed to have committed suicide. Here's what Dharun did, step by step.
Dharun and Molly have both been charged with invasion of privacy for broadcasting a classmate's September 19 sexual encounter. (It's illegal to create pornography without the subject's consent in New Jersey.) Local sources report that the victim "was believed to have jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge" (which connects New Jersey to Manhattan) shortly thereafter. Out on a $25,000 bail, Dharun has deleted his Twitter account, but by the magic of web caches, we found it—and Dharun's tweets about how he turned on his webcam when his roommate asked for privacy, then went to Molly's room and caught his roommate "making out with a dude." Local reports say iChat is the tool Dharun used to stream the video.
Click image to enlarge.
Prosecutors released Molly on her own recognizance, suggesting Dharun is considered the primary conspirator. The whole affair is ludicrously, tragically simple: If Dharun told the truth on his Twitter feed, then he essentially reenacted the scene from American Pie where Jason Biggs tricks Shannon Elizabeth into becoming an amateur porn star. Except he may have outed a gay kid and caused a suicide—funny how these things are so much less humorous in real life, right? Anyway, the maximum sentence for Dharun's and Molly's charges is five years. In the meantime, it looks like Dharun has locked down his Facebook profile.
We emailed Dharun and Molly; they have yet to respond. Know more? Email us. [Fox5, Star Ledger, CBS NY]
Updates:
Is This Webcam Spying Victim Tyler Clementi's Last Call for Help?
The Tragic Story of Tyler Clementi, Rutgers' Webcam Voyeurism Victim
