Delaware State University Registrar Sentenced In Bribery Scheme

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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A former Delaware State University registrar convicted of taking bribes to arrange in-state tuition rates for out-of-state students was sentenced to just over a year in prison.

Crystal Martin was also ordered Thursday to help her codefendant pay back the $3.2 million the scheme cost the university, according to Federal Court Judge Richard J. Andrews' ruling.

Martin pleaded guilty to bribery charges last year and said her coconspirator, Stephen Williams, would bring her students from out-of-state to be reclassified as in-state residents. The reclassification could save those students up to $9,000 on tuition, The Delaware News Journal reported. Martin accepted payments of $300 to $600 from each student whose status she changed, according to previous court testimony.

Williams, of Neptune, New Jersey, was an alumnuns of the university and also pleaded guilty last year to bribery charges. He was sentenced to about three and a half years in prison in January.

More than 250 students were involved in the scheme that ran from 2013 through 2017, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura D. Hatcher.