Professor pleads guilty to bribery, misconduct after soliciting money for good grades
By Web Staff
Click here for updates on this story
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A math professor at Baltimore City Community College was sentenced to one year of prison, probation and restitution after pleading guilty to a bribery scheme where he would solicit students for bribes in exchange for good grades in his course, Attorney General Brian Frosh announced on Thursday.
Using multiple aliases, Edward Ennels, who taught at the community college for 15 years, posed as one student another with an offer to complete all the assignments, guaranteeing an A, for $300. That exchange was then forwarded to 112 students in Ennels’ classes. The price dropped to $150 for a C or $250 for a B. For higher-level courses, an A would cost $500.
Between June 2020 and December 2020, nine students paid Ennels $2,815 paid in 10 total bribes.
Most declined to pay the bribes, and in some cases, Ennels would offer discounts or payment plans.
Ennels, 45, used another alias to sell access codes needed to view classroom materials and complete assignments. Instead of getting the codes from the bookstore, he encouraged faculty of the Math and Engineering Department to give students a flyer telling them to send money to a vendor named “Tom Smith.” The email address and PayPal account for “Smith” were both controlled by Ennels.
Between August 2013 and February 2020, Ennels sold at least 694 access codes, at a cost of about $90 each.
A student flagged a bribery attempt in December 2020, and BCCC administrators disclosed the matter to law enforcement.
“Ennels used his position as professor to implement an elaborate criminal scheme to take advantage of his students,” Frosh said in a statement. “I appreciate the cooperation of BCCC in helping bring this case to a successful conclusion and holding Ennels accountable for his criminal actions.”
Ennels was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with 9 years suspended, followed by five years of supervised probation, and restitution of $60,000.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
