Weeks after a Northampton County judge dismissed charges against one of four former Lehigh University students from Ghana accused of submitting forged transcripts, a second student charged in the case has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Cyrilstan Nomobon Sowah-Nai, 20, on Monday pleaded no contest to a charge of securing execution of documents by deception, Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta announced in a news release Tuesday. Sowah-Nai made the plea before the case went to trial.
As part of the agreement, Lehigh University did not seek restitution. Sowah-Nai was sentenced to time served and paroled to U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement on a detainer, Baratta said.
In pleading no contest, Sowah-Nai declined to contest the charge that he lied on his application and wrongfully gained admission into the university as a result.
Sowah-Nai and three other former Lehigh students were charged last year in the case. Charges against one of them — Otis Opoku, 20 — were dismissed by Northampton County Judge Jennifer Sletvold, who granted the defense’s motion for acquittal after prosecutors presented their case during a bench trial in late March.
The cases against the other two students — Henry Dabuo, 22, and Evans Oppong, 22 — remain open, with a trial scheduled for June. Both remain in Northampton County Jail.
The allegations came to light after Dabuo’s brother was accepted to the university. His age, 25, prompted Lehigh to review his application and question its validity. His admission was then rescinded.
During that review, they learned that Dabuo was a student at the university and found similar errors in his transcript, according to court documents. Dabuo’s application also mentioned that he knew another Lehigh student, Opoku, and a review of that application also turned up discrepancies, authorities alleged.
Dabuo’s brother’s application also noted that he knew Oppong and Sowah-Nai, and their applications differed from their actual transcripts, according to court documents.
Authorities allege that the forged transcripts led to Dabuo, Oppong and Sowah-Nai’s receiving more than $375,000 in financial aid.
