Said privileged preppy is one Ken Simpler. Our State Treasurer. In light of L’Affaires Kavanaugh, I decided to take a second look at what Simpler himself called a ‘brush with the law’. Here’s what I found (it even made the New York Times):
Saying he would not treat the case ”as an undergraduate frolic that got out of hand,” a judge yesterday sentenced two officers of one of Princeton University’s private eating clubs to 30 days in jail for their roles in parties in February during which 45 students suffered alcohol-induced medical problems.
The two students, who also were fined $500 each by the judge, Russell W. Annich Jr. of the Princeton Borough Court, had been found guilty of serving alcohol to minors. The drinking age in New Jersey is 21, and the charge carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
As a result of the drinking at the parties, 39 students were treated at the university infirmary, six were taken to a local hospital and one of those six remained in a coma for 24 hours.
The two students sentenced yesterday, 20-year-old Kenneth Simpler of Rehoboth, Del., and Lisa Napolitano, 21, of Geneva, N.Y., are the president and the social chairman of the Princeton Charter Club, one of 13 private eating clubs at the university.
During the sentencing yesterday, Judge Annich said it was only luck that prevented a death like the one at Rutgers. ”If someone had died or been brain-damaged, the defendants wouldn’t be in this court,” he said, indicating that they would be in a higher court for trial on more serious charges.
At the trial of Mr. Simpler and Ms. Napolitano last Wednesday, students testified that initiates of the Charter Club were led through a series of rooms in which they were encouraged to drink large quantities of alcohol.
The sentence was reduced in subsequent court action. Here is how the Privileged Preppy explained it in a 2014 interview with WBOC:
“While my opponents will want to popularize the notion I was sentence to serve 30 days, the judge was making a statement. He knew he was making a statement. It was reversed, and I did community service and paid a $500 fine.”
That’s not the notion I want to ‘popularize’. My point is that Simpler was responsible for placing dozens of students in jeopardy, and skated largely due to his social status and Princetonian privilege. He makes a big deal about the reduced sentence while never once mentioning the crime that he committed. He put lives in danger. Full stop.
I think that’s wrong, and I think that sends the wrong message. And maybe it’s just me, but I’m tired of privileged louts never having to be called to account for their behavior.
The good news? You can call him to account in November.