Goodwill Industries of Eastern North Carolina has acquired the former Apex School of Theology campus in Durham for $4.27 million, the Triangle Business Journal reported.
Apex had bought the land in 2011 for $700,000. Goodwill has not disclosed its plans for the six-acre property.
Five people associated with the school pleaded guilty in 2022 to fraudulently obtaining federal financial aid funds, setting up a bogus satellite campus in Columbus, Georgia, and enrolling individuals who agreed to pose as students, then using $12 million in government aid intended for the “students” for personal expenses.
The students were told they would not have to do any work after they obtained the financial aid. WUNC reported the scammers faked applications, grades, course work and student autobiographies and took tests for students.
The scam was run by the director of the Columbus campus, Sandra Anderson, 63, of Palmetto, Georgia. Also involved were Yolanda Thomas, 51, of Columbus, Georgia; Leo Thomas, 56, of Phenix City, Alabama; and Kristina Parker, 35, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, who ran the scam under Anderson’s direction.
In the eight years from 2010 to 2018, 241 students were involved in the fraud, according to court testimony.
Anderson, Yolanda Thomas and Parker each pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, five counts of wire fraud, and four counts of financial aid fraud. Leo Thomas pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge Clay Land sentenced Anderson to nine years in prison; Yolanda Thomas to five years and three months; Montgomery, who used a tax preparation business to recruit students, to four years and three months; administrative assistant Parker to four years; and Leo Thomas to three years.
Apex at one time had 20 satellite campuses, all of which closed for lack of funds after the government stopped providing financial aid.
Main photo: Apex School of Theology in Durham / LinkedIn
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