Roommate Faces Hate-Crime Charges in Rutgers Case

The roommate, Dharun Ravi, and another student were initially charged with invasion of privacy. In accusing Mr. Ravi of acting with antigay motives, the indictment exposes him to a potential sentence of at least 5 to 10 years in prison if convicted, as opposed to the probation that would probably have resulted if Mr. Ravi were convicted only on the earlier counts.

The grand jury also charged Mr. Ravi, 19, with a cover-up. The Middlesex County prosecutor’s office said he had deleted a Twitter post that alerted others to watch a second encounter Mr. Clementi planned with the man — identified in the indictment only as “M.B.” — and replaced it with a post “intended to mislead the investigation.” Prosecutors said Mr. Ravi had also tried to persuade witnesses not to testify.

The investigation that led to the 15-count indictment proceeded quietly over several months, as Mr. Clementi’s suicide focused national attention on the victimization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth. Public figures including Ellen DeGeneres and President Obama spoke out about the tragedy; New Jersey legislators enacted the nation’s toughest law against bullying; and there were calls from many quarters for prosecutors to bring the bias charges.

Legal scholars said the case would be closely watched and could have ripple effects. “Charging this as a bias crime may send a message to prosecutors who are dealing with similar cases in other states about the particularly damaging consequences of this kind of crime,” said Suzanne B. Goldberg, director of the Columbia Law School Center for Gender and Sexuality Law.

After discovering that his roommate had spied on him, the authorities said, Mr. Clementi, an aspiring violinist from Ridgewood, N.J., jumped from the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22.

Prosecutors said Wednesday that the events that led to the bias-intimidation charges dated from Aug. 6, the day Mr. Ravi learned the name of his future roommate — identified in the indictment as “T.C.,” since invasion of privacy is designated a sexual offense. Later that month, Mr. Ravi used his Twitter account to announce he had found out his roommate was gay.

“The grand jury charged that the invasion of privacy and attempt to invade the privacy of T.C. and M.B. were intended to intimidate them because of their sexual orientation,” prosecutors said in a statement.

Mr. Ravi’s co-defendant, Molly Wei, who lived in the same dormitory and was also charged with invasion of privacy, was not indicted. The prosecutor, Bruce J. Kaplan, said in a statement that the case against her remained active but would not be presented to a grand jury “at this time,” suggesting that she could testify against Mr. Ravi.

Prosecutors say Mr. Ravi live-streamed the encounter on Sept. 19.

A Twitter message that day from Mr. Ravi summed up the sequence of events: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.”

Mr. Ravi was also charged with additional counts of attempted invasion of privacy for trying to carry out a similar live transmission two days later. That attempt was thwarted after Mr. Clementi found the camera aimed at his bed.

The prosecutor’s office said Mr. Ravi, who remains free on $25,000 bail, would be arraigned in coming days, but no date had been set. Mr. Ravi and Ms. Wei withdrew from Rutgers last fall; their lawyers did not respond to phone messages seeking comment.

Mr. Clementi’s parents, Joseph and Jane Clementi, who said last month in a statement that they were not seeking “harsh punishment” for the defendants, responded to the new charges with their most forceful words to date.

“The grand jury indictment spells out cold and calculated acts against our son Tyler by his former college roommate,” they said in a new statement. “If these facts are true, as they appear to be, then it is important for our criminal justice system to establish clear accountability under the law.”

Their lawyer, Paul Mainardi, emphasized that the charges did not relate to the death. “The point is that it shouldn’t take a suicide for charges like this to be brought,” Mr. Mainardi said.

New Jersey’s attorney general, Paula T. Dow, called the indictment “an important step in this heartbreaking case.” Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, a gay-rights advocacy group, said “potential bullies will now think harder before demolishing another student’s life.”

On the Busch campus at Rutgers, where Mr. Ravi and Mr. Clementi had lived, students offered differing views of the bias charges. “There was no sex tape; it was more like he just peeked into the room,” Enrico Cabreto, 19, a freshman, said. “He’s only being indicted because of all the publicity.”

Daniel Granda, 18, also a freshman, disagreed. “He didn’t make him jump, but by doing what he did, he set the stage for what happened next,” he said.

Nate Schweber contributed reporting.