Two Maryland Admissions Officers Plead Guilty to Student Financial Aid Fraud
Baltimore, MD – In a shocking case of academic deceit, Jacqualyn Sue Caldwell, a 55-year-old Baltimore resident, and Jesse Raymond Moore, Sr., a 30-year-old Crofton native, have pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud a student financial aid program.
According to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Rod J. Rosenstein, the defendants cheated students out of the high school diploma and GED requirements by changing test scores to qualify students for federal grants. ‘Students without high school diplomas who applied for financial aid to attend trade schools were required to pass the Ability to Benefit test and demonstrate their aptitude to complete the educational program and work in the field,’ Rosenstein said.
Caldwell worked as a test administrator for a company that offered cognitive tests to schools and businesses, while Moore served as an admissions representative for All-State Career School, a for-profit trade school in Baltimore. Their duties involved administering the Ability to Benefit (ATB) test, a requirement for federal financial aid eligibility.
However, the scammers employed a brazen scheme, allowing admissions representatives to change the test scores of students who failed the first time. Caldwell would collect the students’ answer sheets and mail them to her employer’s headquarters in Illinois, where they were scored and the results sent back to All-State. The admissions representatives would then correct the answers, and Caldwell would re-seal the envelopes to be mailed.
The scheme was exposed after one of the admissions representatives suggested a different method to change the answers on the ATB test. Caldwell agreed to erase and change just enough incorrect answers to provide a passing grade. The third admissions representative, who also asked Caldwell to change scores, would often approach her in the hallways to ‘help’ students pass the ATB test on their second try.
The two defendants have pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud a student financial aid program, with Caldwell’s plea agreement revealing her complicity in the scheme from as early as 2008. Their guilty pleas mark the third conviction in this high-profile case, with two others previously convicted for their roles in changing test scores to qualify students for federal grants.
The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General. The case serves as a stark reminder of the importance of academic integrity and the consequences of cheating in the pursuit of financial aid.
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Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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