LSU dental student pleads guilty to fraud

A Louisiana State University (LSU) dental student who obtained thousands of dollars in loans after gaining admission to the school by fraudulent means has pleaded guilty to federal financial aid fraud.

Obialunamma Agubuzu, 25, a resident of River Ridge, LA, pleaded guilty June 11 before a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

She was accused of submitting fraudulent transcripts and Dental Admission Test (DAT) results to gain admission in the dental school, then applying for and receiving more than $35,000 in federal financial aid.

Her sentencing is scheduled for October 14. She faces a maximum imprisonment term of five years, a $20,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release following any imprisonment term.

Agubuzu admitted to submitting fake transcripts from Cornell University, which showed a 4.0 grade point average (GPA) when her actual GPA was 2.4. She also admitted that she had not taken the prerequisite science courses required for admission to LSU and that she submitted DAT results with an academic average of 19 and a 77.6 percentile when she never actually took the exam.

After gaining admission, Agubuzu received $35,572 in loans under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Education, and also received private scholarships of $2,000 and $6,000.

Agubuzu's roommate and fellow Cornell University student Anthony Juan Walker, 27, is also facing a charge of financial aid fraud. Both Walker and Agubuzu were indicted together on May 21.

The school reviewed the student's admission files because of two incidents that took place earlier this year, according to federal investigators.

A computer consultant in California called the school in March and informed officials that Michael Smith -- later identified as Walker -- contacted him to gain illegal access to a faculty member's computer account for test answers. In April, Walker was detained by LSU police at 3:30 a.m. when he was discovered kneeling outside a faculty member's door with a backpack containing burglary tools.

Because of these incidents, Katherine Muslow, LSU Health Sciences Center's senior counsel, decided to review Walker's and Agubuzu's admission files and found the fraudulent transcripts and DAT scores.

A federal indictment accused both students of knowingly and willfully obtaining federal funds by fraud and false statements in that they applied to the school "relying on false and fraudulent college transcripts and Dental Admission Test score reports."

Agubuzu has pleaded guilty to these charges.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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