Three people, including two Miami Dade County Public Schools employees, have been arrested for selling GED certificates.
Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle’s office has charged Roxanne Insignares, Antonio Bouzan and Marta Avalos with varying counts of organized scheme to defraud, unlawful compensation for official behavior, and cheating.
Insignares, initially misidentified by the State Attorney’s office as the principal of MLEC, was a teacher and test administrator for the adult division of the school before being removed at the onset of the investigation a year ago. Since then, she’s taught at a night program at American Senior High school.
She and Bouzan—a former GED registrar in the adult division of MLEC—have been accused of running a fraud scheme to sell GED certificates for up to $3000.
According to Rundle’s office, Insignares falsified records and submitted fraudulent information to the Department of Education in order to obtain the certificates. She then identified Bouzan and Avalos as having brokered the sales of the GEDs.
So far, eighteen students have admitted to paying in order to receive a GED, having not taken the test. They were told to pay in cash and to provide personal information, along with photos of themselves in different clothes.
All three are being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Insignares is being held on a $210,000 bail; Bouzan, $60,000; Avalos, $35,000.
If found guilty, they would have to pay fines ranging up to nearly $200,000.
