Ten indicted in Manhattan cash-for-grades scheme

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former admissions director at a New York City college was one of 10 people indicted on Monday, accused of forging transcripts and altering grades, prosecutors said.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said the investigation is ongoing and could be part of a larger scheme that included selling fraudulent credentials to physicians' assistants, who assist doctors in surgeries.

From January to March, a former director of admissions at Touro College, a Jewish-sponsored school based in Manhattan, and the former director of the computer center at Touro's Brooklyn campus improperly altered, created and deleted at least seven transcripts in a cash-for-grades scheme, according to the indictment.

The suspects found a transcript from a legitimate Touro student on the college's computer server and used it as a template to create the forged documents, prosecutors said. Individuals who never attended classes at the college paid between $3,000 to $25,000 for transcripts.

Three New York public school teachers bought phony transcripts showing they had earned master's degrees in education, and two undergraduates paid to have their grades changed to reflect better performance, prosecutors said.

In a search of the admissions director's home, prosecutors said they found "numerous fake student transcripts and records" and blank certificates for physicians' assistants.

The alleged masterminds face charges of computer trespass, receiving bribes, computer tampering, and falsifying business records, all of which carry a possible penalty of four years in prison.

Touro College released a statement saying it was participating fully in the investigation.