Yale kicks out senior

One month before his expected graduation, a Yale University student was expelled from school after being accused of fraudulently accepting $61,475 worth of student grants and loans from the federal government. Lon Grammer, a 25-year-old from Brentwood, Calif., was arrested Thursday by Yale University Police on charges of first-degree larceny. According to Yale Police Sergeant Michael Pattern, Grammer could face between one and 20 years in prison. As a junior, Grammer transferred to Yale from Cuesta Community College in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He is accused of forging and altering several of the documents in his Yale admissions file. Grammer's admissions file at Yale contained two different copies of his transcript, according to police reports. The copy he sent to Yale showed a grade point average of 3.91, while the transcript from Cuesta Community College indicated a 2.07 GPA. In addition, Grammer's file contained several forged letters of recommendations signed by nonexistent Cuesta Community College professors. Norman Pattis, Grammer's attorney, told the Yale Daily News that Grammer would enter a plea of not guilty at his arraignment which was originally scheduled for yesterday. But Grammer was not arraigned and his case received a continuance until April 20. Yale officials declined to comment on the case. Some of Grammer's friends said they were surprised by his arrest, but others felt that there had always been something suspicious about him. The Yale incident is similar to last year's arrest of a man who tried to gain admission to the University Law School using false identification. Jorge Chambergo, who allegedly sought admission to the Law School under an assumed name, was arrested in California in January by United States postal inspectors. A federal grand jury indicted Chambergo on seven counts of mail fraud and one count of attempting to a use a false social security number. Chambergo could face up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine. He is accused of altering his name in January 1990 in an attempt to pass off the LSAT scores of another individual, Dae Kyung Seu. And the indictment also charges Chambergo with submitting a financial aid statement with a false birth date. The Yale Daily News contributed to this article.

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