Crown College Lawsuits & Lies

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All the defendants were scheduled to be arraigned on June 16, 2010, however, only Misty Lee, appeared. The arraignment was postponed until July 9, 2010.

On May 13, the Seattle PI reported that four former officers of the defunct Crown College have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of financial aid and mail fraud, among other charges. The former officers are the positions the once held are: Sheila Mullineaux, Vice President; Jesica McMullin, Admissions Director and Registrar; Misty Lee, Financial Aid Director; and Jennifer Byers, Fiscal Manager and Bookkeeper. This indictment is the culmination of the investigation that commenced with the serving of a search warrant on Crown College as detailed below. Here is a copy of the indictment.

As the Seattle Times reported on August 18, 2007, federal investigators suspect several Crown College employees of financial aid fraud, conspiracy to defraud and bank fraud. The Department of Education, Office of Inspector General served a search warrant on Crown College and seized records, a great deal of records, as the returned search warrant details. Apparently, some clever Crown employees, when they suspected that Crown College was going to close, applied for federal loans and grants for their friends, though they were not and had no intention of attending classes. They figured that once Crown closed the loans would be discharged under Department of Education rules governing school closures and they would retain the funds since when a school closes before a student has completed the coursework, the loans are forgiven. However, Crown did not close when they thought it would, so they fabricated documents to support the appearance that they and there friends were actually attending classes at school.

Mr. Wabel informed the Seattle Times that he was unaware of the investigation and declared that the perpetrators were innocent. It seems that Mr. Wabel, as is his habit, was looking the other way, or perhaps behind his back. However, the affidavit filed in support of the search warrant makes it clear that Mr. Wabel was aware of the alleged fraud and the investigation, notwithstanding his statements to the contrary. Moreover, the affidavit cites a kaleidoscope of evidence pointing to the potential culpability of all the Crown College employees named in the search warrant which includes Sheila Mullineaux, the director of the school, Jesy McMullin, the senior admissions representative (who allegedly lied about the transferability of Crown credits to several former Crown students), Misty Lee, the financial director and Jennifer Byers, the business manager.

As of July 31, 2007, Crown College has lost their accreditation and are closing albeit possibly temporarily! This has been covered by several news outlets including the Seattle Times, two articles in the Tacoma News Tribune, one by Melissa Santos focusing on the closure and one by Karen Hucks which focuses on the dilemma facing current Crown College students who have been left in the lurch and the Puget Sound Business Journal. According to the Seattle Times article, Crown is losing its accreditation because not enough of its students are employed in the fields that they are being trained for! Not very shocking inasmuch as their training/education is so shoddy. There are two more lawsuits pending against Killebrew/Dalton, Inc. Dale Pryor v. Killebrew/Dalton, Inc., John Wabel and Sheila Mullineux, Pierce County Case No. 07 2 060885 and Roberta Swigert and Janelle Page v. Killebrew/Dalton, Inc. and John Wabel, also in Pierce County Superior Court. In the second lawsuit, the plaintiffs have calendared a motion for default as the defendants have not yet filed an answer to the lawsuit. Reading Crown College's Press Release regarding their closure is rather humorous.

Crown College is a small for-profit college, mostly online, in Tacoma, Washington. It is owned by Killebrew/Dalton, Inc. whose sole shareholder is John Wabel (pictured) who bought it in 1990 when it was a beauty school. It was accredited by the American Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT) which is a national accreditor which accredits career, vocational and technical schools. They have been on probation off and on since 2005 and remain on probation as of June 18, 2007. Incidentally, John Wabel, the director does not have a college degree, not even a nationally accredited one. The facts are, there are many problems with Crown College which would explain why they have been sued three times, successfully.

Many regionally accredited schools which include almost every public university in the United will not accept transfer credits or degrees from nationally accredited schools. Thus if you attend Crown College you can expect to have trouble transferring your credits elsewhere! Crown College has been lying about that fact, and others, for at least as long as 1998 and has been sued successfully three times paying out over $150,000 in damages and attorney fees, and had an injunction issued against it. Many students, even sophisticated ones, do not understand that there are two, incompatible higher education accreditations. Crown College has exploited this fact. An admission representative came forward and reported that she was instructed by the director of the school, Sheila Mullineaux (pictured) to say anything to prospective students to enroll them. They said things like "national accreditation is better than regional accreditation. It is not. That Crown College's credits can transfer anywhere. They do not. You can read her declaration in the Gonzalez case and her complaint to the ACCSCT.

In the Joanne Black lawsuit it was alleged that Crown College misrepresented their placement statistics, the quality of their sound system, and the quality of their curriculum, and their faculty. Their goal is to make money and in order to do that they need customers, well students and their admission representatives have been instructed to tell students anything to get them to enroll.

Collectively the written complaints submitted against Crown College by former employees and students show a distinct pattern of disregard for the law not to mention ethics and a drive to maximize cash flow and profit at the expense of education. Students are consistently misled if not straight out lied to in order to get them enrolled and keep them enrolled. Once they are enrolled Crown College has a vested interest in keeping them enrolled notwithstanding academic performance. Once they graduate they receive very little placement assistance. Measures are taken to get the most loan and grant money possible even if might mean misleading the Department of Education. These complaints also assail the quality of Crown College's sound system, curriculum, faculty, the cost of their education, their bookkeeping and their admission standards.

Crown College cost about $7500 a year including fees, thus an associate's degree at Crown College costs about $15,000. That is for a degree and credits that are not recognized by most universities. A community college in Washington state would cost half of that for two years.

This website is in no way affiliated with Crown College (Tacoma, Washington) or any other college or school and is for critical and/or educational purposes only.