Diploma mills can bring trouble

You may have heard that nine Washington State Patrol troopers are being investigated for allegedly using fraudulent “diploma mills” to qualify for better pay.

Four of those, including two sergeants, work in Clark County.

Officials may send their internal investigation to the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office, because WSP headquarters are in Olympia, as soon as early December. If fraud is found, those troopers could lose their jobs or even face criminal charges.

Diploma mills are a world away from legitimate online college courses, officials say.

“There are some diplomas you can attain by accessing a Web site, provide ‘life experience’ information, pick your degree on a price list, and receive a diploma without taking a class,” said WSP Capt. Jeff DeVere.

DeVere declined to name the alleged diploma mills during the investigation.

Ten warning signs of diploma mills are available on the Web site of Washington’s Higher Education Coordinating Board, www.hecb.wa.gov.

Among the 10:

-- Having no address except a post-office box or suite number.

-- Giving vague information about the faculty, or having no faculty, just evaluators, counselors or mentors.

-- Having a name similar to a well-known, respected college.

In Spokane, a man and wife who operated a diploma mill there for six years and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud were sentenced in August to three years in federal prison.

According to the Associated Press, they and several others sold high-school and college degrees from more than a hundred fictitious online schools, as well as counterfeit diplomas and transcripts from 66 legitimate universities.