ATLANTA - Former Morris Brown College president Dolores Cross was sentenced to five years of probation today for diverting government money intended to cover student tuition. The 70-year-old Cross also was sentenced by a federal judge to a year of home confinement.
Judge Julie Carnes said the sentence, which was agreed on by prosecuters and Cross' attorneys, was based on her age and health and the fact that she did not benefit persoanlly.
Cross was president of the 125-year-old Atlanta school from November 1998 until February 2002.
She pleaded guilty in May to embezzling the funds. In exchange for the plea, federal prosecutors dismissed 27 other counts against her involving (m) millions of dollars.
Prosecutors said Cross and Parvesh Singh, the school's former financial aid and enrollment director, fraudulently obtained three-point-four (m) million dollars in student loans and Pell grants, in part to cover a three-point-three (m) million dollar credit debt and school expenses.
The 64-year-old Signh also was sentenced to five years probation and 18 months home confinement.
Prosecutors said Morris Brown obtained the money legally but never should have kept it. Loans were applied for in the names of students who never attended the college, had already left or attended part-time.
Most of the students had no knowledge the loans had been applied for in their names, or that they would be expected to repay them.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Thursday
July 3rd, 2025
2:49AM
