STUDENT LOAN SCAM COST COLLEGE $ 205K: PROSECUTORS
A suburban couple managed to turn the student loan process into a moneymaker, though they did it by stealing more than $ 200,000 from the College of DuPage, according to prosecutors.
A DuPage County grand jury Tuesday returned a 20- count indictment against Cedric Ramey and Mary Allen of Roselle, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.
Prosecutors charge that Ramey, 40; and Allen, 37, stole through “an elaborate scheme involving financial aid fraud,” a statement from prosecutors said.
From February 2012 through May 2014, the pair would get friends to provide personal information to apply for admission to the Glen Ellyn college; and for student loans and federal grants from the U. S. Department of Education, prosecutors said.
“The recruits would then withdraw from the courses, resulting in refunds of tuition balances returned to them either via check made payable to the recruit or electronic deposit into the recruit’s bank account,” prosecutors said. “The recruits would then split the refund with Ramey and Allen.”
The pair stole a total of $ 205,580, prosecutors allege.
The scheme unraveled in 2013, prosecutors said. “An individual reported that she had received a tuition bill from COD, but she had never attended the college.”