Ghanaian Students Arrested in U.S. for Alleged Transcript Forgery

Authorities in the United States have arrested four Ghanaian students for allegedly forging high school transcripts to gain admission to Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

Otis Opoku, Evans Oppong, CyrilstanNomobonSowah-Nai, and Henry Dabuo now face charges of forgery and theft of services. Each of them has had their bail set at $100,000.

The investigation began when discrepancies emerged in the application of Jude Dabuo, Henry Dabuo’s younger brother, who was set to start his studies at Lehigh University this year.

On August 23, 2024, Dan Werner, Lehigh’s Vice Provost of Admissions and Financial Aid, reported his concerns to the Lehigh University Police Department (LUPD) after noticing errors in Jude’s transcripts.

A subsequent review of credentials uncovered similar issues in the transcripts submitted by Henry Dabuo, prompting a broader examination of documents from other Ghanaian students linked to the group.

According to court records cited by the media outlet thebrownandwhite.com, the Admissions Office flagged troubling format, markings, and spelling errors on Jude Dabuo’s transcript. These anomalies led officials to question the transcript’s authenticity.

The scrutiny extended to Otis Opoku, who has been attending Lehigh since 2022. It was discovered that Opoku had received financial aid totaling $212,933.30. Sowah-Nai and Dabuo, who enrolled in 2023, had been granted financial aid packages of $127,213.70 and $129,244, respectively. Prosecutors allege that the students had submitted falsified documents, inflating their high school grades to secure admission and substantial financial aid.

Further investigation into Henry Dabuo’s transcripts also led to a review of Otis Opoku’s records. Officials found the same troubling markings, format issues, and spelling errors, which heightened their suspicions.

Additional checks on the transcripts of Evans Oppong and CyrilstanNomobonSowah-Nai revealed similar discrepancies. The admissions office confirmed that the official transcripts obtained from the students’ high schools in Ghana did not match the documents submitted during the application process. The forged transcripts were “materially different” from the originals, according to the report.

The students were arrested on September 6, 2024, and are currently held at Northampton County Jail. They are scheduled to appear in court on September 24, 2024.

In the wake of their arrest, a GoFundMe page was set up on September 15, 2024, to support the four students. The case has sparked discussions about the vetting processes for international student admissions and the integrity of financial aid applications at U.S. universities.