GREAT NECK, N.Y. -- Seven New York teens were busted Tuesday for their alleged roles in a cheating ring that paid a college student thousands of dollars to impersonate students and take the SAT exam for them, authorities said.
Six students at Great Neck North High School are accused of paying Sam Eshaghoff, 19, of Great Neck, N.Y., to take the college-entry test for them.
Eshaghoff, currently a student at Emory University who completed his freshman year at the University of Michigan, accepted payments of between $1,500 and $2,500 per student, authorities said. Eshaghoff is a 2010 Great Neck North graduate.
Eshaghoff was arrested Tuesday morning and charged with scheme to defraud, falsifying business records and criminal impersonation.
He faces up to four years in prison if convicted on those charges.
The six students who hired Eshaghoff were also busted Tuesday and face misdemeanor charges.
Prosecutors said the students' names are not being made public due to their ages.
Eshaghoff and the six students will be arraigned later Tuesday in Hempstead.
The Nassau County district attorney's office is currently investigating whether similar SAT scams took place in at least two other high schools last year.
The district attorney is also looking into allegations Eshaghoff took the SAT exam for students at other high schools.
Investigators said the students registered to take the test at a different school where their faces would not be known to the proctors.
That's when Eshaghoff showed up with an ID card bearing his photo and the paying student's name on it. He also took the test at no charge for a female student, prosecutors said.
On at least one occasion, District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Eshaghoff flew back home from college to impersonate two students and took the SAT twice in one weekend.
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