AboutRobin Sexton Expertise Questions dealing with Police and investigative procedures, criminal investigation for all classifications of crimes, Interview and interrogation techniques, crime scene procedure. Police techniques and procedures. Can not answer specific questions about specific cases.
Experience Member of the Michigan State Police for over 30 years. over 20 years as a Detective. Conducted numerus investigations from Homicide to dog bite. Internal investigations. Investigations in prison enviorment.Majority of career has been spent in rural areas of Michigan
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Science degree. Long list of professinoal training schools
Expert: Robin Sexton Date: 7/4/2008 Subject: Diploma forgery
Question QUESTION: A friend of mine applied to a university in Washington state with a fake masters degree. He holds a masters degree but from another university than the one listed on his degree. The transcripts and letters of recommendations were also forged. He was caught By the university in June 2007. He was charged in February 2008 and made a deferred sentence deal with the prosecutor in April 2008. Meanwhile he moved to Maryland where he had applied to another school with the same fake masters degree, transcripts and letters of recommendations(all fake). He applied to the university in Maryland in September 2007 before he went to court for the previous forgery charge. After he made a deal with the prosecutor in WA state, he quit the university in Maryland as well. In June 2008 a police officer called him from Maryland and said that he was investigating his case because somebody called from WA state and warned them that his application documents were fake. My friend told the officer the truth. The officer did not say if he was charging him with anything and did not say anything else. My friend moved to another state since May 2008 after he left the university in Maryland and before the officer called him on his cell phone(in late June).
1. Since the application to the university in Maryland(September 2007) was before the deal with the prosecutor(May 2008) will this new charge (if indeed he is charged) be a reason for the WA prosecutor to call the deal over, I mean the deferment of the sentence?
2. Even if he has left the university in Maryland, can the police officer still charge him with a crime after he discovered that his application to the university had a fake diploma?
3. How can he know if there is a charge pending? Should he recontact the police officer another time and ask if he is charged with a crime?
Thank you very much.
ANSWER: Paul,
Interesting situation.
1) The agreement with the Washington prosecutors office should be for acts committed after that date. Otherwise once a agreement is made then all the state would have to do is go back and find some violation and violate everyone. Ruins the spirit of the agreement. The only caveat and I don't suspect that it exists is that he had to make a complete statement about any and all frauds or forgery's that he had or was involved in. Especially since it involves a different state i doubt that is an issue in Washington.
2) Yes he could be charged. The fraud was committed and then he backed out. Think of it as going in to rob a bank changing your mind and leaving the money. Now no where near as serious obviously. Since he left the University and probably little or any loss there may be no prosecution.
3) Your right your best move is to call the police officer or agency and see if they will tell you the status of the investigation. You can also make a Freedom of Information Request for the information.
Hope this helped
Robin
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QUESTION: Thank you very much.
My friend talked to the officer and he seems that he wants to charge him. He asked him to come back to Maryland to deal with what he has done.
1. Do you have any recommendation?
2. Do you recommend any lawyer?
Thank you very much.
ANSWER: Paul,
Charging is up to the prosecutors office in that jurisdiction not the officers. I probably would not return unless i had to. Consulting with a competent attorney in that area would not be a foolish thing to do. They would have the ability to contact the prosecutor and learn what is going on and maybe mitigate a lot of this.
Good Luck
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QUESTION: Thank you very much.
This was very helpful.
2final questions.
1. What do you mean by unless he has to? He is charged? There is a warrant/
2. How to find a competent attorney in that area?
Thank you very much.
Answer Paul,
Correct, If he is charged he will need to go back or if his attorney recommends he comes back to deal with some issue. He is not forbidden to ever go back to Maryland just until the issue is decided. The reason is that if he is right there it is easier for the prosecutor to decided " might as well" as compared to " why bother".
Competent attorney, Ah the eternal question, that is why I phrase it that way. The best way to locate an attorney is by word of mouth. Persons that are around attorneys a lot, such as cops. Yellow pages is probably the worst. The attorney you are looking for is one that has a lot of experience in the court / county the charge is in. Has a good relationship with the prosecutors office. A god percentage of their practice is criminal. Possibly and ex-assistant prosecutor, would have several years of experience in prosecution. Most criminal cases are decided in the hallway not the court room.
