Thursday, August 07, 2008

Spokane diploma mill officer sentenced to prison

This from the Seattle Times:

SPOKANE, Wash. — 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...

...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...

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