An Indian has been sentenced to one year in prison and faces deportation for fraudulently obtaining loans and scholarships to the tune of $ 200,000 to study medicine in the US.
Arijit Kumar Chowdhury, 36, pleaded guilty to three-count indictment charging him with fraud in connection with obtaining government loans, fraud in obtaining a half-tuition scholarship from Tufts University, and making false statements to obtain the scholarship under Disadvantaged Students Programme.
US District Judge Joseph L Tauro in Boston sentenced Chowdhury, whose medical doctorate under the name Steve Valdez has been revoked, to a term of 364 days in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release.
He was also ordered to pay restitution to the educational institutions and student loan agencies from whom he obtained money.
The prosecution claimed that the Indian entered the United States in the late 1980s on a student visa. After spending two years at Texas A&M University, he left college and his visa expired. However, he remained in the US using the name Steven Valdez and a social security number taken from an individual with a similar name, a media report said.
Using the name Valdez, Chowdhury falsely claimed to be a US citizen and of Hispanic ethnic background. He also claimed to be an orphan and was admitted to Oberlin College and later to Tufts Medical School.
Chowdhury had been in custody since his arrest in August 2004, in connection with these charges. During the hearing, the court noted that he faced deportation to India following the completion of his prison sentence.
According to the court papers filed by Chowdhury's attorney, the Indian was studying engineering on a student visa at Texas A&M in the late 1980s when he became the "personal concubine" of one Dr Dale Barber.
Chowdhury accused his mentor of instructing him to steal a Texas co-worker's identity so that Chowdhury could win scholarships to attend the Oberlin in Ohio. The doctor allegedly penned recommendations detailing the boy's horrific childhood in Spain and loss of his parents, the report said.
Chowdhury graduated at the top his class in premed and got into Tufts in 1996 on a half-tuition scholarship. He graduated in 2000 in the top third of his class.
Chowdhury's masquerade as Steve Valdez fell apart when he tried to get his medical license and discovered the real Valdez had been convicted of statutory rape in Missouri, the media report said.
He claimed his mentor offered to save his career by giving his prodigy his own identity. "Steve Valdez", then, legally changed his name to Dale Barber and assumed the doctor's Social Security number.
