4 Ghanaian students arrested over alleged forgery of high school transcripts to enter US University

Four international students from Ghana have been arrested in the United States for allegedly forging high school transcripts to gain admission to Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, according to court records from Northampton County.

The students—Otis Opoku, Evans Oppong, Cyrilstan Nomobon Sowah-Nai, and Henry Dabuo—are currently being held in Northampton County Jail on charges of forgery and theft of services. The group was arraigned on September 9 and is awaiting preliminary hearings set for September 24.

The university’s student newspaper reports that the arrests were made after Lehigh University Police Department (LUPD) Detective Lieutenant David Kokinda filed criminal complaints against three of the students on September 6. The complaint against the fourth student, Evans Oppong, is still being processed.

Prosecutors allege the students submitted falsified high school transcripts to Lehigh University’s Admissions Office, inflating their grades to secure their places at the prestigious private research institution. According to court documents, Opoku, a student since 2022, received financial aid totalling $212,933, while Sowah-Nai and Dabuo, who both started in 2023, were awarded financial aid worth $127,213 and $129,244, respectively.

The investigation began when Lehigh’s Vice Provost of Admissions and Financial Aid, Dan Warner, raised concerns about the legitimacy of a transcript submitted by Jude Dabuo, Henry Dabuo’s older brother, who had been admitted to the university for the upcoming semester. Unusual markings, formatting, and spelling errors on the document led the Admissions Office to rescind Jude Dabuo’s admission and investigate his younger brother’s credentials. Further inquiries revealed similar discrepancies in the applications of the other three students.

The four students are currently being held on $100,000 bail. As of Monday, no legal representation has been assigned to their case. A GoFundMe pagehas been launched by friends to raise funds for their legal defence, including bail reduction, commissary expenses, and attorney fees. The page reports that Opoku and Oppong had earned spots on Lehigh’s Dean’s List in recent semesters, requiring GPAs of 3.6 or higher.

Lehigh University officials and the LUPD have not provided further comment on the case. The GoFundMe campaign, initially aiming to raise $40,000, was paused and replaced with a new target of $30,925 after collecting $9,075.

SOURCE: graphiconline.com