MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A former Rhodes College student pleaded guilty to charges of computer fraud after officials say he gained access to his teachers’ accounts and changed his grades.
According to the Department of Justice, Michael Geddati, a freshman pre-med major during the 2017-2018 school year, was awarded a $30,000 scholarship each semester. In order to keep it, he had to maintain a certain grade point average. It appears he wasn’t making the grades and so he illegally accessed his teachers’ accounts to get access to exams as well as to change his official grades.
Authorities said he was able to get away with it for several months until one of his professors noticed a discrepancy between the student’s online grades and what was recorded in her offline grade book.
The IP address that was accessing the online records was linked back to Geddati, who was subsequently expelled from the college.
As part of the plea agreement, the 20-year-old agreed to make restitution to Rhodes for the value of the unearned scholarship.He also faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 find and supervised probation.
Sentencing is scheduled for May.