Hundreds of allegedly fake diplomas issued by a non-accredited school have Gwinnett County police ready to levy real criminal charges against the operators of that school.
The school run by husband and wife Stanley and Yessica Jean operated under the name New Life Technical Academy, but the school is not accredited, nor is it affiliated with the actual, accredited New Life Technical Academy in Hapeville, whose name was used without permission, Gwinnett County police spokesman Cpl. Jake Smith said in a news release Friday.
Smith said the phony school had “graduated” more than 800 students in a GED program and a medical assistant program. Students attended classes, had graduation ceremonies and received diplomas.
Those diplomas came at a cost. Students paid anywhere from $500 to $800 for the GED program, while those in the medical assistant program each paid about $5,000. But their investments earned them only fake credentials, even though some students were able to use them to gain employment, Smith said.
Stanley Jean, 43, and 35-year-old Yessica Jean are each facing 20 counts of financial identity fraud for allegedly using the identity of New Life Technical Academy for financial gain, and detectives are seeking indictments for financial identity fraud and theft by deception for each of the hundreds of victims.
The Jeans were not in police custody as of early Friday evening.
A Channel 2 Action News investigation into the school began in November, with students telling the news station that they had sought the diplomas in order to legally stay in the country. Because the diplomas are not valid, their immigration status could be at risk.
Last week, Channel 2 reported that Stanley Jean had spoken to the Mundo Hispanico newspaper in an effort to convince his former students not to go to police.
The news station also reported that police were looking at several other people as part of their investigation, including a woman claiming to be an immigration attorney who had referred many students to the school.
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