Ex-Rutgers student turns down plea deal in cyber spying case

The defendant accused of cyber spying on a gay Rutgers University freshman turned down a plea deal with New Jersey prosecutors on Thursday that would have capped his prison term to five years.

Instead, Dharun Ravi, 19, now faces 10 years or more behind bars when he goes to trial Feb. 21 on 15 criminal counts, including for bias intimidation and invasion of privacy.

Roommate Tyler Clementi, 18, committed suicide by leaping off the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010, after Ravi allegedly used a webcam to broadcast his intimate encounter with another man to others.

A judge also ruled Thursday that the man who Clementi had the encounter with and is only identified in court as “M.B.,” must be revealed, but only to Ravi, his attorneys and investigators.