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Four former Crown College officers were indicted by a federal grand jury and all have plead guilty or been convicted on financial aid and wire fraud. They are Sheila Mullineaux, former vice president, Jesica McMulin, former admission's director and registrar, Misty Lee, the former financial aid director and Jenifer Byers, the fiscal manager and bookkeeper. |
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Federal Indictment
On May 13, 2010, almost three years after search warrants were served on Crown College's offices On May 13, 2010, 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. What is notable of this situation is that the four most senior officers who ran this school have all either pled guilty to or been found guilty of financial aid fraud and/or mail fraud.
What does that say about the integrity of this school? Well obviously it had no integrity and fortunately it was shut down for that reason but it managed to deceive students for a long time before that. Why did it deceive students. Well for money of course. Education had nothing to do with the school.
As all the defendants, Ms. Mullineaux, requested numerous trial and arraignment postponements, in fact no defendant showed up for the initial arraignment in June of 2010. The justice system, moves slowly as its main components are human beings and there are a surplus of defendants. This case is no different. Generally, defendants use these delays to angle for the best deal and after six months of trial postponements, on November 10, 2010, Ms. Mullineaux accepted a plea agreement in which she pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud. The government filed a sentencing memorandum alleging, among other things, that Mullineaux was the ringleader, defense opposed it with their own response.
The Seattle PI correctly surmised that Mullineaux would serve no jail time. At her sentencing on February 11, 2011, the judge appeared sympathetic to Mullineaux stating that she was basically a good person who went bad. He sentenced her to 3 years probation with 120 days of home monitored confinement, 120 hours of community service and $21,000 in restitution.
Unlike, the other defendants, Ms. Lee, made a plea bargain almost immediately, however that agreement was sealed as she had apparently agreed to testify against the other defendants which, she did do.
Jennifer Byers
re
a bevy of witnesses including former students, former instructors and
expert witnesses from University of Washington who were ready to
testify. Mr. Wabel decided to settle the case on the eve of
trial. The settlement was confidential but the scuttlebutt was
that they received their loan money back.