DAVIE, Fla. (CBS12) — A South Florida man who graduated from NSU University School in Davie in 2023 is among seven Cornell University fraternity members accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2024.
Jonathan Newell attended NSU University School, according to a page showcasing the school’s 2023 seniors, before enrolling at Cornell, where he was later one of two students expelled following the alleged incident.
A graduate of a prestigious South Florida prep school is among seven Cornell fraternity members accused in the newly reopened sexual assault case. (@USchool.Seniors23 via Instagram)
Newell is named alongside six other members of Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity in a civil lawsuit filed by a former student identified as Jane Doe.
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The lawsuit alleges Doe, who was 20 at the time, went to the fraternity house in Ithaca, New York, on Oct. 19, 2024, while intoxicated. She alleges two fraternity members encouraged her to take a substance described as ketamine before sexually assaulting her.
The lawsuit further alleges a message was posted in a fraternity Snapchat group, which had over 50 people, indicating a woman was available for sex. Doe alleges additional fraternity members then arrived and sexually assaulted her for several hours.
The seven men named in the lawsuit are Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar.
What happened to the criminal case?
The Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office initially declined to bring criminal charges after reviewing the 2024 police investigation.
District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has said the account Doe gave investigators at the time differed substantially from the allegations in the civil lawsuit filed nearly two years later, according to previous reports.
Van Houten said Doe’s original statement described her participation in drug use and sexual activity as voluntary and consensual and did not allege that sexual activity continued after she withdrew consent.
“If what was said on social media about this case was true, those fraternity members would be in prison right now,” Van Houten told ABC News.
But after the civil lawsuit brought renewed attention to the allegations, Van Houten’s office announced it would reopen its review.
Prosecutors plan to meet with Doe and potentially present the case to a grand jury this fall. They have also requested records from Cornell’s Title IX investigation and may seek testimony from some of the fraternity members.
Cornell’s response
Cornell said its separate Title IX and student conduct investigations resulted in sanctions against students involved in the case, including expulsions and suspensions.
The university said the Chi Phi chapter was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus, per previous reports.
Doe’s attorney, Thomas P. Giuffra, has disputed the district attorney’s account of the investigation. He said his client was not thoroughly interviewed and argued that the two-year delay may have resulted in the loss of critical evidence.
An attorney for Kretzschmar has denied the allegations, saying the incident described in the lawsuit “did not happen.”
None of the seven men were criminally charged when the case was initially reviewed, according to the district attorney’s office.
The criminal review remains ongoing.