ONEONTA, N.Y. (AP) — Underground fraternities like the one where a freshman was found unconscious before dying from a combination of drugs and alcohol have been a longtime problem for the upstate New York college town, police said Tuesday.

Oneonta Police Chief Douglas Brenner said Daniel William Michaels, 18, of Dix Hills in Suffolk County, died of cardiac arrest after being brought to a local hospital in a private vehicle early Saturday. Michaels was found unconscious on a couch in the off-campus home of Alpha Pi, a frat that's not recognized by the State University of New York at Oneonta, Brenner said.

Someone called 911. But while officers were responding, Michaels was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Michaels died from cardiac arrest brought on by a combination of drugs and alcohol, the police chief said.

The Daily Star of Oneonta reported that Williams was a new pledge who was studying business economics at the school, about 135 miles (217 kilometers) northwest of New York City.