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Defendant pleads guilty in Stone Foltz hazing death case

Aaron Lehane changed his plea to guilty on 11 of the 17 charges he faced.

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — A defendant in the hazing death case of Bowling Green State University student Stone Foltz changed his plea to guilty Thursday.

Aaron Lehane pleaded guilty in Wood County Common Pleas Court to nearly a dozen charges connected to Foltz's death by acute alcohol intoxication.

Lehane changed his plea to guilty on 11 of the 17 charges he faced.

The charges he pleaded guilty to include tampering with evidence, obstructing official business and hazing.

He will be sentenced on February 10 at 1:30 p.m.  

Credit: WTOL 11
Aaron Lehane, 21, of Loveland pleads not guilty May 19 to all charges against him in the hazing death of BGSU student Stone Foltz.

Earlier this week, another man facing charges in the hazing death was arrested and on Thursday he also appeared in Wood County Common Pleas Court. Jacob Krinn was arrested Wednesday after being accused of violating part of his electronic monitoring program. 

Krinn was released on an own recognizance bond, ordered to submit a hair follicle test and scheduled to return to court for a final pretrial on Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. Krinn was indicted on seven charges connected to the death of Stone Foltz including involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault and reckless homicide.

Credit: Wood County Sheriff
Jacob Krinn was arrested for violating terms of his electronic monitoring program.

Foltz, 20, was found unresponsive on March 4 inside his apartment by his roommate. An investigation determined he was involved in an alcohol-related hazing incident earlier that night at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, also known as PIKE.

Foltz was at a new member initiation, where new members, known as "littles" and who were almost all underage, received "bigs" or mentors, who allegedly gave their littles high alcohol content liquor and instructed them to drink the whole bottle.

The roommate performed CPR until EMS arrived. Foltz was taken to the Wood County Hospital and later to Toledo Hospital, where he died on March 7. 

The coroner said Foltz died of fatal ethanol intoxication. His blood alcohol content, or BAC, was 0.394, according to the family, who said it was likely even higher immediately after the alleged hazing ritual.

Seven others were charged in Foltz's death. Niall Sweeney, of Erie, Penn., pleaded guilty last month to tampering with evidence in an agreement to drop an involuntary manslaughter charge.

All other defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges and are awaiting trial. 

Stricter penalties for hazing are now in place throughout Ohio as Collin's Law took effect on Oct. 7.

The legislation elevates a general hazing charge to a second-degree misdemeanor and aggravated hazing to a third-degree felony. The bill was reintroduced in March after the hazing death of Bowling Green State University student Stone Foltz, and signed by Gov. Mike DeWine in July.

Collin's Law was named after former Ohio University student Collin Wiant, who died after a hazing incident in 2018.

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