IRVINE : Exam-Theft Suspect Still a UCI Student

A UC Irvine student implicated in an exam-theft scheme has not been dismissed from school as university officials said earlier this week. He will be given a formal hearing to determine his fate.

Amir Bagherzadeh, 22, will appear before the student disciplinary grievance and review board, according to his attorney, Lawrence Ecoff, and school officials.

Ecoff said he had asked the university to delay its disciplinary procedures until the criminal case has been concluded, but the university declined.

“What he says at these hearings can be used against him” in court, Ecoff said. “It puts us in a precarious position.” As a result, Ecoff said, Bagherzadeh will have to be cautious with his comments during the student disciplinary action.

On Monday, university officials said the biological sciences major had been formally dismissed because they had not been notified that he was appealing the action. But UCI officials said Thursday that the situation had changed.

“There was probably just a paper-work error because the letter just didn’t get to the right office in time,” said university spokeswoman Colleen Bentley-Adler.

Bagherzadeh was arrested on suspicion of using a key to enter the office of the chairman of the molecular biology and biochemistry department. He pleaded innocent to charges filed at Municipal Court in Newport Beach.

A short time later, a second student apprehended in connection with the thefts, Arash Behnamh, 21, was found in a Tijuana hotel with a fatal, self-inflicted gunshot wound in the chest, authorities said. Although no note was found, police believe the arrest was a factor in the death of the junior math major and foreign student from Iran.