Ex-USC Student Gets 2 Years in Grade-Tampering Scheme

A 28-year-old former USC student, described by the prosecution as a middleman in a grade-tampering scheme involving more than 40 students, was sentenced Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court to two years in state prison for paying to have his transcript altered through the university’s computer system.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Plafker said the sentence imposed on Merhdad Amini was justified because the defendant had “severely compromised the integrity of the USC system.”

Plafker said USC officials “have been getting calls from people all over the country expressing concern about the validity of the USC transcripts.”

Amini, who lives in Beverly Hills, was found guilty Aug. 12 of three counts of illegal computer access for paying a former university employee to have his grades changed between May, 1983, and January, 1984. But jurors were unable to reach a verdict on whether he had changed other students’ grades, as the prosecution contended.

The former employee, Darryl Gillard, who worked in the USC registration and records office, pleaded guilty July 21 to one count of illegal computer access and one count of selling cocaine and later testified against Amini. Gillard, 28, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 22. A third person charged in the case, Manuel Roberts, 23, of Los Angeles, has fled.

“My opinion is there was no one ringleader,” Plafker said, adding that Amini “was as involved or more . . . as anyone else.”

In a handwritten statement filed with the court, however, Amini said he had accepted an offer to have his grades changed “after listening to many students mentioning that they had their grades changed for a small fee without any impunity.” But he said he never paid “a dime” for this service and denied further involvement in the scheme.

His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Mitchell J. Grossman, declined to discuss the case.

The prosecutor said he expects Amini to be transferred to Louisville, Ky., to face trial on 1984 and 1985 charges of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and conspiracy.

USC officials said as many as 43 students may have been involved in the grade scheme, which was first uncovered in the spring of 1984 when a student’s transcript aroused the suspicions of an academic adviser. Security measures for using the university’s computer have been tightened, the university officials said.