LEBANON — Two people have been found guilty of serving alcohol to people under the age of 21 at a party that was attended by an underage Dartmouth College student who later drowned in the river.
Matthew Catrambone and Samuel Terry, both Dartmouth juniors, were each fined $930 in Lebanon District Court on June 16, according to court records. Catrambone pleaded guilty and Terry pleaded no contest.
The charge is a non-criminal violation offense typically disposed of with a fine.
Police announced last November that Catrambone and Terry had each been charged following an investigation into the drowning death last July of 20-year-old Won Jang, whose body was recovered from the Connecticut River the day after he had attended a party jointly held by the fraternity Beta Alpha Omega and sorority Alpha Phi.
An autopsy report by the New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Jang’s cause of death was drowning. His blood alcohol level was .167. In New Hampshire, the legal blood alcohol limit for drivers under 21 years old is 0.02.
Jang, a biomedical engineering major who had been class valedictorian at his high school in Delaware, attended a “social event” at an off-campus residence that was rented to members of the Alpha Phi sorority, according to Hanover police.
The majority of party-goers, including Jang, were under 21 and were drinking alcoholic beverages, which had been provided by members of the Beta Alpha Omega fraternity who were older than 21, police said.
As the party neared its end, Jang was part of a group of attendees who decided to go down to the docks near Ledyard Bridge to swim in the river. A heavy rainstorm swept in, forcing the swimmers out of the river.
No one noticed that Jang hadn’t exited the river until the next day.
His body was later recovered by Hanover Fire Department personnel.
In their November 2024 news release announcing their arrests, police linked the alcohol that Jang had consumed before his drowning to alcohol that Catrambone and Terry had furnished for the party.
But Jang’s name does not appear as being a recipient of the alcohol in the complaint filed by the prosecutor in the court docket.
Instead, two other Dartmouth students under the age of 21 are identified as the people to whom Catrambone and Terry furnished alcohol.
“Matthew agreed to plead guilty and paid a fine for a non-criminal violation level offense of providing alcohol to two 20-year-old individuals, neither of whom was Won Jang. Thus, the plea is unrelated to the tragic accident during which Matthew was not present. Matthew remains heartbroken over the passing of his friend,” Eric Wilson, Catrambone’s attorney, told the Valley News.
An attorney for Terry declined to comment.
Mariana Pastore, the prosecutor who handles misdemeanor and violation-level offenses for the Hanover Police Department, did not respond to messages asking for comment.
Despite the implication in the department’s initial news release, Hanover Police Capt. Mike Schibuloa said that the reason Jang’s name did not appear in the final criminal complaint as a recipient of the alcohol provided by Catrambone and Terry is that there was no irrefutable evidence showing Jang with the alcohol provided by the other two students.
But the difference is academic, according to Schibuloa.
Catrambone and Terry “were known to provide alcohol to the party that Won Jang attended. We know Won Jang consumed alcohol at that party,” Schibuloa said.
The reason the names of other students were identified as recipients of the alcohol was because “we had photos of them with alcohol in their hands, as opposed to Won Jang, who we know was there and people said was drinking,” Schibuloa said.
Police in November said they also were charging Alpha Phi sorority, which hosted the party that Jang attended, on a misdemeanor violation of facilitating an underage alcohol house.
But in February, Pastore, without explanation, informed the court that police were no longer pressing forward with the case.
Within days of Jang’s drowning Dartmouth suspended both Beta Alpha Omega and Alpha Phi from privileges accorded Greek houses, curtailing their ability to host social events.
Following an investigation by the college’s Community Standards and Accountability office, both the fraternity and sorority admitted to involvement in serving alcohol to minors and “engaging in behavior that could reasonably be expected to cause physical harm,” according to disciplinary reports.
Beta Alpha Omega was suspended for seven terms through summer 2026, which is to be followed by two terms of “alcohol probation” and one term of “probation,” which bars it from participating in campus social events and recruiting new members. Members also are required to vacate the frat house until probation is lifted.
Alpha Phi was suspended for four terms, which is to be followed by three terms of alcohol probation and then one term or probation. The sorority was also ordered to be “dry” (alcohol free) during both the periods of suspension and alcohol probation.
In addition, members have lost “access” to its sorority house on North Park Street through the end of summer term 2026.
Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.
CORRECTION: Two Dartmouth students, Matth ew Catrambone and Samuel Terry, were fined after being found guilty of serving alcohol to people under age 21 in Lebanon District Court. Catrambone pleaded guilty, while Terry pleaded no contest. A previous version of this story included an incorrect plea for Terry.
