A biology lecturer at New York City-based Medgar Evers College was arrested for teaching unauthorized healthcare certification courses and selling students fake completion certificates, according to The New York Times.
The full-time tenured lecturer, Mamdough Abdel-Sayed, allegedly offered certification classes on medical techniques that he was not authorized to teach, such as CPR, phlebotomy and EKG training. Further, the lecturer pocketed the fees he received from charging students anywhere from $25 to over $1,000 for the fraudulent classes and certificates.
Investigators claim Mr. Abdel-Sayed printed certificates on college letterhead from his computer and encouraged students to present the certificates when applying for jobs. Between 2014 and 2017, he purchased enough office supplies to print 7,000 fraudulent certificates.
He created "his own fraudulent trade school," Catherine Leahy Scott, New York State's inspector general, told The New York Times.
Mr. Abdel-Sayed now faces five criminal counts relating to fraud, corruption and obstruction of justice.