Morris Brown College President Pleaded Guilty After $3.4M Federal Student Loan Pell Grant Fraud

On May 1, 2006, Dr. Dolores Evelyn Cross — a former President of Chicago State University and eight-year head of a New York state guaranty agency overseeing federal student loans, who served as President of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia from November 1998 through February 2002 — pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes in the Northern District of Georgia to one federal count of embezzlement of federal funds under 18 U.S.C. § 666, with 27 additional counts from a December 2004 indictment dismissed in exchange for the plea. Cross and co-defendant Parvesh Singh, the college's Director of Financial Aid and Enrollment Management, fraudulently obtained $3.4 million in federally insured student loans and Pell grants submitted in the names of approximately 1,800 ineligible students, including students who never attended Morris Brown, students who had already left, and students enrolled only part-time, with most having no knowledge that loans had been taken out in their names. The proceeds were used to cover Morris Brown's existing $3.3 million credit debt and ongoing operating expenses. Sentenced on January 3, 2007, Cross received five years probation, twelve months home confinement including six months with electronic monitoring, 500 hours community service, $13,942 in restitution, and a $3,000 fine. Morris Brown lost its accreditation in 2002, enrollment collapsed from over 2,000 students to 66, and students whose names appeared on fraudulent applications were left responsible for federal loan debt they never requested. - - Disclaimer: This video is a dramatization based on real events. Some visual content was created with artificial intelligence assistance. Some details have been fictionalized and all names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.