A Gwinnett County judge granted $50,000 bonds to Stanley and Yessica Jean who are charged with running a school that turned out fake diplomas to hundreds of students.
Police charge the volume of students allowed the husband-wife team who ran the school to collect more than $2 million in fees, Channel 2 Action News reported.
But because the New Life Technical Academy school Stanley and Yessica Jean operated on Jimmy Carter Boulevard was not accredited, the federal goverment rejected its diplomas for citizenship applications by its students, the television station reported. New Life Technical Academy is not 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.
Channel 2 Action News reported that Gwinnett Superior Court Judge Karen Beyers required the Jeans to wear ankle monikers, have no contact with students and obey a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.
The Jeans are also accused of running similar schools in other parts of metro Atlanta and other states too, such as Texas where a judge recently ordered them to pay $1 million in fines in a civil action, Channel 2 reported.
The Jeans through their lawyer are contending the Gwinnett case should also be in the civil, not criminal, courts.
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.
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