Texas prosecutors have charged five individuals for allegedly orchestrating an elaborate cheating scheme that led to over 200 unqualified teachers fraudulently obtaining teaching certifications.
The scheme, alleged to have been concocted by high school basketball coach Vincent Grayson, involved a plan to cheat the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) teacher certification exams, according to NBC News.
Grayson and his co-conspirators are accused of having taken in over one million dollars by helping candidates pass certification tests using proxies to sit in for the exams in place of the applicants.
In the scheme, individuals would typically pay $2,500 to have a proxy take certification tests for them at two testing centers in Houston. The scandal involved bribing a testing proctor to allow test applicants and their proxy to switch places, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced in a press conference Monday.
Overall, more than 400 fraudulent exams were taken and over 200 teachers were falsely certified on a variety of exams and are now scattered across the state.|
The scheme was traced back to May 2020, during the Covid pandemic.
The plot was allegedly orchestrated by Vincent Grayson, 57, the head boys basketball coach at Booker T. Washington High School within the Houston Independent School District, prosecutors said.
He, along with Tywana Gilford Mason, 51; Nicholas Newton, 35; Darian Nikole Wilhite, 22; and LaShonda Roberts, 39, have been charged with two felony counts each of engaging in organized criminal activity.
The alleged plot involved bribing proctors working at test centers to allow a proxy to sit in for those who were supposed to take the tests. This enabled the candidates to obtain certifications without meeting the required standards.
The scam operated through two Houston-area testing centers. Grayson worked with his four accomplices, which included two proctors and two assistant principals.
“Suddenly, they were passing the test with flying colors,” Mike Levine, felony chief in the DA Office’s Public Corruption Division, told reporters.
The plot was discovered when TEA noticed irregularities in test results at one of the Houston testing centers. A former coach then became a whistleblower. He came forward when he was applying to work in law enforcement. He “had an attack of conscience,” said Ogg, and he provided information that led to the arrests.
Investigators found that more than 400 exams were taken, which resulted in over 200 false certifications across the state.
“They would come, show ID, sign in and leave. A few minutes later, Nicolas Newton, the proxy tester, would sit in their seat, take and pass the test that they felt they could not,” Levine explained.
The Houston Independent School District immediately suspended the employees implicated in the scandal. “If their certification exams fraudulently, we will take swift action to terminate their employment with the District,” the district said in a statement.
Even more disturbing is that at least two of the teachers who paid for this service were sexual predators. These individuals “had access through their employment to underage kids on campus and off,” Ogg said. One of them has since been charged with indecency with a child. The other faces charges of online solicitation.
