Ex-president of Morris Brown pleads guilty to embezzlement

ATLANTA - The former president of Morris Brown College pleaded guilty Monday to embezzling federal money that was intended to cover student tuition.

Delores Cross, 69, who was the president of the 125-year-old college from November 1998 until February 2002, entered the plea in front of U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes at a morning hearing.

Monday's plea agreement dismisses 27 other counts Ms. Cross was facing in connection with the case.

Had she gone to trial on the single count to which she pleaded guilty, Ms. Cross could have faced up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

Instead, prosecutors are asking that Ms. Cross receive a sentence of 10 to 16 months in prison. Her attorneys indicated in court that they would seek a lesser sentence of zero to six months because of an undisclosed medical condition.

The prosecution and defense agreed she will pay $11,000 in restitution if it is imposed by the judge.

Ms. Cross' trial had been expected to begin Monday.

According to a December 2004 indictment, Ms. Cross and Parvesh Singh, former director of financial aid and enrollment services for Morris Brown, fraudulently obtained $3.4 million in federally insured student loans and Pell grants to cover in part a $3.3 million credit debt and school expenses.

About $1 million has been repaid to the Department of Education, prosecutors said.

Although Morris Brown obtained the funds legally, it never should have kept the loan money for students who never showed up for classes or were enrolled less than half time, prosecutors said.

Most of the ineligible students did not know the loans had been applied for in their names, or that they would be expected to repay, court documents claim.

Ms. Cross and Mr. Singh also hid the fraud from the school's board of trustees, authorities said.

Morris Brown lost its accreditation, which it has yet to regain. Enrollment plunged from 2,000 students to as low as 80.