College Level Cheating

Cheating happens at all levels. AND, for the most part, it's covered up. MIAMI- Two employees at a Florida university with access to computer databanks have been charged with accepting cash -- and one with accepting sex -- in exchange for changing the grades of dozens of students, authorities said.

Ellis Peet and Clifton Franklin allegedly used generic passwords or those belonging to other registrar employees to make the switches at Florida Memorial University. They both had graduated from the school and were fraternity brothers there, authorities said.

Peet, 37, was fired and Franklin, 32, resigned during the investigation at the school in the working class suburb of Miami Gardens.

The former students received payments ranging from $75 to $600 to change more than 650 grades for 122 students over three years, ending in 2002, authorities alleged in court records. Franklin also allegedly received sex from female students after changing their grades, and both men were accused of changing their own grades.

Peet, a computer technician in the registrar's office, and Franklin, a data entry clerk, acted on their own to organize the scheme, school officials said.

'We were very disappointed and very dismayed by the actions of these individuals,' Marty Pinkston, the school's director of governmental and public affairs, said Thursday.

Peet was arrested last month. He has pleaded not guilty to racketeering and violating intellectual property and computer access laws. His attorney, J.C. Dugue, declined to comment on specifics but said his client hopes to be vindicated at trial.

Franklin, who faces identical charges, has not been found by police. Of five students charged as middlemen, three have been arrested, police said. They were charged with racketeering.

The school discovered in May 2002 that unauthorized access to its computer system had happened and grades had been illicitly improved. The school hired a private investigation firm.

The school has taken several safeguards to prevent a repeat of the scheme, including a mandatory change in passwords every 40 days, and the elimination of generic passwords, Pinkston said."