Investigation Nets Thousands Who May Have Fake Diplomas

Looks like some IAs didn't need the Dream Act to get their "diplomas."
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washingtonpost.com

Investigation Nets Thousands Who May Have Fake Diplomas

By Valerie Strauss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 30, 2008; 4:33 PM

Scores of people in Maryland, Virginia and the District are on a government list of about 9,600 people who may have purchased fraudulent high school and college degrees, including some who appear to work in government and the military, the list shows.

Federal authorities are poring through the list for U.S. employees who may have purchased a phony degree over the Internet, according to Brandon A. Montgomery, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. Any names will be sent to the agencies where they work for possible administrative action, he said.

Names on the list, which may also include some people who only inquired about purchasing a degree, include those of at least 160 people in Virginia, 117 in Maryland and 17 in the District. At least 20 of those appear to be military personnel, and at least 10 appear to be government employees or government contractors. On the list of 9,612, there are 5,212 names without any state identification.

"Literally you could have someone using a diploma in an extremely harmful way if they are not properly trained," said Kristen Nelson, director of communications and government relations for the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, where the state legislature this year passed a law making it illegal to fraudulently use a phony degree.

The Spokesman-Review newspaper, in Spokane, Wash., obtained the list and published the names on its Web site Monday, the Associated Press reported. Separately, The Post obtained the list from a state government official who declined to be identified.

The list, which has not been made public by the government, was compiled during a federal investigation in Washington state into an international diploma operation that operated from 1999 through 2005. It sold more than $6 million worth of phony high school, undergraduate and graduate degrees to people in more than 130 countries.

According to court documents in Washington state, the conspirators also sold counterfeit diplomas and academic products purporting to be from legitimate academic institutions, such as the University of Maryland, George Washington University, Missouri University and Texas A&M University.

Eight people have or will soon be sentenced in the scam. Dixie Ellen Randock, 58, a leader of the diploma mill, was sentenced this month in Washington state to three years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. Her daughter was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, and her husband will be sentenced Aug. 5. Others involved will be sentenced later in the year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02300.html

8O holey bat turds 8O

Gee. You mean I could have my doctorate by now for a few bucks? Boy have I wasted time and money on real education. :twisted:

Me, also :!: :idea: Work, work for the education and then compete with an illegal criminal aliens with a printout from the internet. :idea: :oops: 8) :?

If your whole life is a fake, why stop at the social security card, drivers license, etc. May as well get that fake college degree while your at it!

Meanwhile, I and everyone else with a degree has to compete with these people...and I don't speak Spanish!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 - Page updated at 09:55 AM

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Spokane diploma mill officer sentenced to prison
A man described as the chief financial operator of a Spokane-based diploma mill has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.

Steven Karl Randock Sr. got the same sentence Tuesday that his wife, Dixie Ellen Randock, was given last month. Both pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, and charges of money laundering were dropped in exchange.

During six years, the Randocks and six others sold high school and college degrees from 121 fictitious online schools, as well as counterfeit diplomas and transcripts from 66 legitimate universities, government lawyers said. About 10,000 degrees were sold to more than 9,000 people.

Had they fought the charges and been convicted by a jury, the Randocks would have each faced more than seven years to nearly nine years in prison on the conspiracy charge alone.

Besides his prison term, Randock was sentenced to three years of court supervision and was ordered to forfeit his interest in more than $500,000 in seized cash and bank accounts, real property and a 2001 Jaguar XK8, U.S. Attorney James A. McDevitt said.

His wife has appealed her sentence.

Defense lawyer Peter S. Schweda asked in vain that Randock be sentenced to home detention because of health problems. Assistant U.S. Attorney George J.C. Jacobs countered that Randock, 69, would get adequate medical care in prison.

"It is clear to me that his culpability is certainly in the same category" of his wife, U.S. District Judge Lonny R. Suko said.

Under federal court rulings and sentencing guidelines, age and medical issues are irrelevant unless a defendant is shown to have an "extraordinary physical condition."

"There's no constitutional right to a particular kind of medical care" for federal felons, Suko said.

The judge said he was limited to a three-year sentence unless he rejected the written plea agreements.

Meanwhile, immigration officials have begun examining a list of 9,612 names to see how many federal employees may have bought phony high school or college degrees from the diploma mill.

The Spokesman-Review newspaper obtained the list and published the names on its Web site. The Justice Department has refused to release the list, which grew out of a lengthy investigation.

The list included some people who apparently work for government, educational institutions and the military, according to their e-mail addresses that ended in .gov, .edu or .mil, according to the newspaper.

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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesmanreview.com

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... ethru.html

Quote:

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Besides his prison term, Randock was sentenced to three years of court supervision and was ordered to forfeit his interest in more than $500,000 in seized cash and bank accounts, real property and a 2001 Jaguar XK8, U.S. Attorney James A. McDevitt said.

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Looks like the fake diploma business was quite good to Randock...that is before he got caught and lost everything! No telling how many people out there have one of his fake sheep skins hanging in their office.

Here is a searchable link to the list of people who bought fakes :lol:


http://www.spokesmanreview.com/data/diploma-mill/