Lohman enters intervention program

Michael Lohman, the former mathematics graduate student accused in April of committing dozens of sexual offenses against Asian women on campus, entered a pretrial intervention program Wednesday, avoiding a possible criminal conviction.

"Michael is remorseful about everything that happened," Lohman's lawyer, Kevin Main, said in an interview today. "He feels bad for the people it happened to. He feels bad for his family ... I say he's accepting responsibility for it."

Lohman cut and took locks of hair from about nine Asian female University students without their knowledge or consent and poured his own bodily fluids — semen and urine — into the drinks of Asian women more than 50 times, according to police reports from April.

Citing his actions as "deeply disrespectful of the rights of others," President Tilghman subsequently barred Lohman from campus. Lohman remains barred from campus and is no longer enrolled, according to University spokesman Eric Quinones.

Borough Police charged him with two counts of reckless endangerment, two counts of tampering with a food product, one count of harassment and one count of theft. The case drew media attention across the country, especially within the Asian-American community.

By entering the pretrial intervention program (PTI), Lohman must pay a $125 fine and commit to a program of psychological counseling, according to a report in the Princeton Packet. If Lohman does not meet the requirements of the three-year program, he could face up to 18 months incarceration for each charge against him, the newspaper reported.

Officials at the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office and Borough Police were unavailable for comment this afternoon.

According to the New Jersey Judiciary's website, the PTI "seeks to render early rehabilitative services, when such services can reasonably be expected to deter future criminal behavior."

"The PTI program is based on a rehabilitative model that recognizes that there may be an apparent causal connection between the offense charged and the rehabilitative needs of a defendant," the site continues. "Further, the rehabilitative model emphasizes that social, cultural, and economic conditions often result in a defendant's decision to commit crime."

If the PTI is successfully completed, there will be no record of conviction, according to the site.

Questions about Lohman's mental health have surrounded the case from its beginnings. In April, Borough Police reported that Lohman was taken to Capital Health Systems, a hospital in nearby Trenton, after being arrested, though they declined to say why. A later police report indicated that Lohman was in a "facility" — not jail — though additional details were unavailable.

Contacted by The Daily Princetonian when the news first broke, Michael Litchman, a visiting professor in the psychology department who teaches a course on abnormal psychology, said, "Obviously [Lohman] has some extremely serious issues regarding interpersonal relationships, self esteem and socially acceptable behaviors in public."

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Though PTI is administered by the prosecutor's office, defendants must apply and be accepted to enroll in the program. "There are certain offenses and offenders who would not be eligible for the program, and Michael did not fit into the category of someone who is ineligible," Lohman's lawyer, Main, said.

"He's certainly expressing a remorse for everything that's happened," Main added. "It's not something that he's getting away with. All around, it's being handled in the most appropriate fashion for everyone involved."

Main stressed that had Lohman's case been taken up at trial — and had he been convicted — he would likely have not faced jail time. "Essentially, he would have been looking at probation," Main said. "By no means do I mean to minimize the seriousness of what happened, but these were fourth-degree crimes. Fourth-degree is as low as you can go."

Lohman's former professors and colleagues, when contacted by the 'Prince' in April, remembered him as a gifted mathematician with a promising future.

Professor Robert Perlis, who taught Lohman when he was an undergraduate at Louisiana State University and was on the committee that decided to offer him a scholarship, said he was "absolutely shocked and almost in disbelief that [Lohman] could do something like this."