Asians behaving badly... grade-changing, cheating tutor edition! In Orange County, a former tutor is facing felony charges for hacking a teacher's computer to help a group of high school students change their grades.
Tutor accused of hacking school computers faces 16 more felony charges
29-year-old Timothy Lance Lai is accused of breaking into Corona del Mar High, while working as a private tutor, to place a keystroke-logging device on the back of a teacher's computer. With that information, Lai allegedly accessed the school's network to change several students' grades on multiple occasions in 2013.
The school district and police launched an investigation into the cheating after a teacher discovered that student grades had been changed. After interviews with students, it wasn't long before Lai's name came up.
That December, school officials discovered that a keystroke-logging device had been placed on a teacher's computer and grades had been altered. Administrators obtained Lai's name through subsequent student interviews, according to authorities.
A student who was interviewed by school officials and police agreed to place a recorded phone call to Lai from the police station, according to an affidavit filed in Orange County Superior Court in December 2013.
"During the phone call, Lai made statements implicating himself in the elaborate cheating scheme," Newport Beach Police Officer David Syvock said in the affidavit.
Ultimately, eleven students were expelled in connection with the cheating scandal, which included the grade changes, receiving test questions in advance and handling the keystroke logger.
Lai was arrested in October -- after short attempt at fleeing the country -- and charged with one felony count of second-degree commercial burglary and four felony counts of computer access and fraud. Last week, was charged with 16 additional felony counts of computer access and fraud. Worst tutor in the world.
More here: Ex-tutor in Corona del Mar grade-changing scheme charged with 16 additional felonies