Five get prison time in Columbus theology school fraud that cost taxpayers $12 million
After hours of attorneys’ questioning the restitution and minimizing their clients’ roles in the fraud, the defendants who pleaded guilty in a $12 million student financial aid scandal at Columbus’ now defunct Apex School of Theology were sentenced Thursday in federal court.
Before sentencing five people involved in the years-long scam using fake students to gain loans or grants from the federal Department of Education, U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land rejected three defense attorneys’ arguments that investigators miscalculated the estimated money lost.
The lawyers said the feds failed to account for factors such as students’ obtaining financial aid before transferring to Apex from other schools. After hearing testimony from a special agent with the IRS criminal division, Land decided prosecutors had sufficient evidence for the amounts cited.
The total loss was set at $12,085,001. The total the defendants together were ordered to pay in restitution was $11,821,022. The amounts do not match because portions of some loans were repaid, and some were consolidated with other debts, so investigators could not track them precisely, prosecutors said.
They said agents combed through data to establish that of 602 students the defendants represented as being enrolled at the Apex learning center in Columbus, 241 were involved in the fraud, which lasted more than seven years.
These are the five defendants, their lawyers, and the roles the feds said they played in the scheme.
- Sandra Anderson, represented by attorney Bill Dillon, directed the Columbus learning center.
- Leo Frank Thomas, represented by Brian Jarrard, was an Apex instructor.
- Yolanda Brown Thomas, represented by Jennifer Curry, also was an instructor. She and Leo Frank Thomas were married.
- Kristina Parker, represented by Nicole Williams, was an administrative assistant.
- Erica Montgomery, represented by Darryl Cohen, owned and operated a tax-preparation business called Dylon Tax Service, and used it to recruit students for the Columbus center.
A sixth suspect named Dorothy Webb, who lived in Columbus and in Las Vegas, was an Apex instructor who has died since the case began.
They admitted to a conspiracy to defraud the federal government by obtaining loans or Pell Grants for students who did no coursework, and then concocting tests, assignments, background information and other documentation to support the scheme investigators said lasted from August 2010 to May 2018.
Here are the penalties that Land gave Montgomery and Leo Frank Thomas, who in an agreement with prosecutors each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. By agreement, they cannot appeal:
- Montgomery, 49, was sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison.
- Leo Frank Thomas, 56, was sentenced to three years in prison.
The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution, said Leslie Garthwaite, assistant chief of the fraud section for the justice department’s criminal division, during a guilty plea hearing earlier this year.
The other defendants pleaded guilty to a to a multi-count indictment alleging one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud and four of financial aid fraud. They did not make plea agreements with prosecutors, and retain their right to appeal:
- Anderson, 64, was sentenced to nine years in prison.
- Yolanda Brown Thomas, 51, was sentenced to five years and three months in prison.
Parker, 35, was sentenced to four years in prison.
Garthwaite said the maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years and a $250,000 fine. For financial aid fraud, the maximum is five years in prison and a $20,000 fine. Each of the three who pleaded to the entire 10-count indictment faced a sentence of up to 120 years, she said.
The scheme
Authorities said the suspects operated the learning center in Columbus on behalf of “Apex Main,” a theological school headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, with 20 satellite learning centers offering instruction both online and in person.
Taking advantage of the grants and loans authorized by the 1965 Higher Education Act, the defendants recruited others to act as students to apply for federal aid. The fake students split their financial aid with the suspects, the feds said.
The school staff plagiarized student work, took tests, and used the school’s website to make it appear to the Department of Education that they were actual students making academic progress, investigators said.
They also created fake email accounts and log-ins for posting classwork online, and false GEDs to satisfy requirements that those enrolled had high school diplomas. Montgomery told recruits they could get “free money” without doing any school work, the feds said.
To get those recruits enrolled, she, Anderson and Parker not only falsified applications, but included fake “spiritual autobiographies” claiming to reflect each recruit’s “spiritual journey,” authorities said.