4 Ghanaian students busted in the US for allegedly forging transcripts to enter university

4 Ghanaian students busted in the US for allegedly forging university applications

Four Ghanaian students have reportedly been arrested in the United States for allegedly forging documents they used to gain admission into an American university.

According to a report by thebrownandwhite.com, the Ghanaian international students allegedly forged their high school transcripts to gain admission to Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

The report indicated that the accused persons: Otis Opoku, Evans Oppong, Cyrilstan Nomobon Sowah-Nai, and Henry Dabuo, have been charged with forgery and theft of services.

The suspects appeared before the court in Northampton County on September 9, 2024, and are currently being held in Northampton County Jail on $100,000 bail.

The Ghanaian international students are expected to appear before the court on September 24, 2024.

Thebrownandwhite.com, which is a media outlet of Lehigh University, also reported that the suspects were arrested on September 6, 2024.

The state prosecutors accuse them of allegedly submitting transcripts to the Lehigh Admissions Office that reported higher grades than their high school transcripts.

Opoku, Sowah-Nai, and Dabuo were arrested after three separate criminal complaints were filed against them by authorities of the university.

The report indicated that the complaint filed against Opoku showed that he has been a student at Lehigh since 2022 and received a financial aid package worth $212,933.30.

Sowah-Nai, on the other hand, has been a student at the university since 2023 and was awarded $127,213.70 in financial aid.

Dabuo has also been a student at Lehigh since 2023 with a financial aid package worth $129,244, according to the complaint filed against him.

It added that court documents show that the Lehigh Vice Provost of Admissions and Financial Aid, Dan Werner, filed a forgery/fraud report with LUPD on August 23.

The documents also indicated that the provost of the university told police they decided to look into the admission of Henry Dabuo after finding serious issues with the admission document of his brother Jude, who was also admitted to the university and was set to begin his college career this semester.

“The Admissions Office discovered concerning format, markings, and spelling errors on Jude Dabuo’s transcript, leading them to question its validity,” part of the court document is quoted.

The authorities, after looking into the credentials of Henry Dabuo, found the same problems on his transcripts as that of his brother and, with help from the U.S. Department of State, the office reached out to his high school in Ghana and obtained his transcripts.

The university authorities stated that they found discrepancies in the transcript they got from the high school in Ghana and the one submitted by the students.

Henry Dabuo’s application, the document indicated, mentioned that Opoku was a high school classmate, which prompted an investigation into his credentials, where they found the same markings, format, and spelling errors.

The authorities also looked into Oppong and Sowah-Nai's applications after Jude Dabuo’s application mentioned them.

The university obtained both students’ official transcripts from their high schools in Ghana, and the transcripts submitted in their applications were materially different.

The report also indicated that a GoFundMe page was created and shared on social media in support of the four students on Sunday, September 15, 2024.