By Alexander Dworkowitz
Ever want someone smart to sit in and take a test for you?
A group of Queens residents did just that, and now they may pay the price with jail time, authorities said.
Last week five borough residents as well as a Long Island man were charged with paying thousands of dollars to have others take graduate school and English-language exams, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said.
Three others, including two Queens residents, were charged in July with running the scheme, the district attorney said.
Young Geng Shen, 35, of Flushing; Ding Guang Yu, 29, of Fresh Meadows; Gang Wang, 36, of Rego Park; Kaidi Gu, 30, of Lefrak City; Xiaohua Liu, 28, of Jackson Heights; and Hui Wang, 31, of Long Island paid $2,500 on average for impostors to take tests for them, the district attorney said.
Last month Ping Shen, 47, of Fresh Meadows; Zhigang Cao, 35, of Flushing; and Lu Xu, 33, of Manhattan were charged with running the scheme, the district attorney said.
The arrests, however, may just be the tip of the iceberg. Ping Shen told a judge he had arranged for at least 500 students to take exams, said Sherry Hunter, a spokeswoman for Morgenthau.
“The investigation is continuing and we anticipate further arrests,” Hunter said.
The exams, administered by the Educational Testing Service, included the Test of English as a Foreign Language, the Graduate Record Exam and the Graduate Management Admission Test, the district attorney said.
The scores were sent to universities across the country, Hunter said. Authorities said some students may have gained admission to schools, including Ivy League universities, on the basis of the scores.
Ping Shen ran the operation, with Cao and Xu taking many of the tests, the district attorney said. Xu took at least 150 exams dating back to May 2002, the district attorney said.
Shen placed advertisements in the World Journal, a Chinese language daily based in College Point, offering help with exams and guaranteeing good scores, the district attorney said.
When he met with the student hopefuls in person, Shen explained that instead of tutoring them he would provide someone to take the test for them, the district attorney said.
Shen created fake passports with the name and date of birth of the client but with the picture of the impostor test-taker, the district attorney said.
The defendants were variously charged with identity theft, criminal possession of forged instruments, falsifying business records and criminal impersonation.
Gu, Liu, Hui Wang, Ping Shen, Cao and Xu face up to seven years in prison, authorities said.
Young Geng Shen, Yu and Gang Wang face up to one year, authorities said.
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 141.
