15 fraternity members charged in connection with death of 19-year-old pledge in 2019

Fifteen men who belonged to a Washington State University fraternity were charged Wednesday in connection with the alcohol-poisoning death of a 19-year-old pledge.

Fifteen men who belonged to a Washington State University fraternity were charged Wednesday in connection with the alcohol-poisoning death of a 19-year-old pledge two years ago, officials said. Whitman County prosecutors charged the former members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity with furnishing liquor to one or more minors, a gross misdemeanor that carries a jail sentence of up to a year and a $5,000 fine. The Whitman County Prosecuting Attorney's Office did not identify the men, who will be summoned to appear in the Whitman County District Court at an unspecified date. The charges are related to the investigation of the death of Sam Martinez, a pledge at the fraternity who died of alcohol poisoning in November 2019 after participating in an "event that was part of an initiation process at the fraternity," the Whitman County Prosecuting Attorney's Office said in a statement.