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+--- Thread: Death Sentence for Steve (/thread-360.html)
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Death Sentence for Steve - Albert Hidel - 08-11-2008
Quote:A man described as the chief financial operator of a Spokane-based diploma mill has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.
Steven Karl Randock Sr. got the same sentence Tuesday that his wife, Dixie Ellen Randock, was given last month. Both pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, and charges of money laundering were dropped in exchange.
...His wife has appealed her sentence.
Defense lawyer Peter S. Schweda asked in vain that Randock be sentenced to home detention because of health problems. Assistant U.S. Attorney George J.C. Jacobs countered that Randock, 69, would get adequate medical care in prison.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008095236_apwadiplomamill1stldwritethru.html
If he gets shanked he'll get adequate medical care, since prison doctors are notably competent in treating those types of injuries.
Otherwise...what's the over and under on how long poor Steve actually will serve (i.e., before his ticker 86s him?) If it's six months I'll still take the under.
This passes for justice in the eyes of University of Washington trustee Lonny R. Suko, who happens to be the one doing the sentencing. Better known as federal judge Sucko the Clown. Sort of like getting caught pirating software and having Bill Gates as the judge.
![[Image: sucko01.jpg]](http://www.dltruth.com/gollum/sucko01.jpg)
SUCKO THE CLOWN Strikes Again
Sorry Steve, you dead.
RE: Death Sentence for Steve - Someone - 08-11-2008
Albert Hidel Wrote:Quote:A man described as the chief financial operator of a Spokane-based diploma mill has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.
Steven Karl Randock Sr. got the same sentence Tuesday that his wife, Dixie Ellen Randock, was given last month. Both pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, and charges of money laundering were dropped in exchange.
...His wife has appealed her sentence.
Defense lawyer Peter S. Schweda asked in vain that Randock be sentenced to home detention because of health problems. Assistant U.S. Attorney George J.C. Jacobs countered that Randock, 69, would get adequate medical care in prison.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008095236_apwadiplomamill1stldwritethru.html
If he gets shanked he'll get adequate medical care, since prison doctors are notably competent in treating those types of injuries.
Otherwise...what's the over and under on how long poor Steve actually will serve (i.e., before his ticker 86s him?) If it's six months I'll still take the under.
This passes for justice in the eyes of University of Washington trustee Lonny R. Suko, who happens to be the one doing the sentencing. Better known as federal judge Sucko the Clown. Sort of like getting caught pirating software and having Bill Gates as the judge.
SUCKO THE CLOWN Strikes Again
Sorry Steve, you dead.
"Poor" Steve may die in prison and it will be left up to "poor" Dixie to spend all those millions of dollars (stashed away who knows where) alone without her loving husband. What a lonely and difficult job it's going to be for her.
This is cruel and unfair. Let's start a campaign against this blatant violation of human rights now, "Free Dixie and Steve now. Let them spend the rest of their lives together in luxury, enjoying their spoils rightfully earned by defrauding thousands of people around the world".
RE: Death Sentence for Steve - ham - 08-11-2008
Quote:This is cruel and unfair. Let's start a campaign against this blatant violation of human rights now, "Free Dixie and Steve now. Let them spend the rest of their lives together in luxury, enjoying their spoils rightfully earned by defrauding thousands of people around the world".
well, I sure won't cry myself asleep over some amateur millist who did it all wrong and instead of enjoying the fruit
of his fraud on some exotic beach will rot in jail.However
the mainstream lesson is:
how many times have people read of university of Phoenix and its boiler room tactics, frauds and false promises?
They have been found guilty and paid millions, yet they are still around because they can afford to bribe authorities into stretching their systematic and deliberate poor practice within the limits of 'the understandable' as 'occasional violations'.
RE: Death Sentence for Steve - Dennis Ruhl - 08-12-2008
Someone Wrote:"Poor" Steve may die in prison and it will be left up to "poor" Dixie to spend all those millions of dollars (stashed away who knows where) alone without her loving husband. What a lonely and difficult job it's going to be for her.
I suspect the missing $10 million is so much crap. Some kid gets busted for some dope and it has $3 million street value. The police seize a "cache of guns" and the picture is of some 19th century guns passed down from their grandfather. The authorities don't know how many people actually received degrees, going so far as putting people who simply made inquiries on their list.
Nice site you have here. I'll have to come back again.
RE: Death Sentence for Steve - Someone - 08-12-2008
ham Wrote:Quote:This is cruel and unfair. Let's start a campaign against this blatant violation of human rights now, "Free Dixie and Steve now. Let them spend the rest of their lives together in luxury, enjoying their spoils rightfully earned by defrauding thousands of people around the world".
well, I sure won't cry myself asleep over some amateur millist who did it all wrong and instead of enjoying the fruit
However
the mainstream lesson is:
how many times have people read of university of Phoenix and its boiler room tactics, frauds and false promises?
They have been found guilty and paid millions, yet they are still around because they can afford to bribe authorities into stretching their systematic and deliberate poor practice within the limits of 'the understandable' as 'occasional violations'.
"Amateur"? I don't think so. Cocksure of themselves and as a result careless? Definitely yes.
No other mill has ever been able to have "real" - or what is regarded as real in Liberia - accreditation that could be verified officially by both the embassy and the MoE. All other mills pretend to be accredited by bodies they set up themselves.
Richard Novac, a very able man I must admit, used to travel regularly and sometimes spend long periods of time in Liberia where he had contacts with all sorts of high rank officials. SRU had obtained "genuine" (genuine not in the sense that they represented the truth, but in the sense that they were signed by the appropriate officials), official documents of accreditation and also a charter that dated back in 1984. To my knowledge, no other mill has ever been able to do that.
I don't disagree with you about Phoenix and some of those for profit multimillion university enterprises. However, people still get an education there from real professors, they are not run by a bunch of uneducated crooks using a dozen aliases each. That makes a difference, don't you think?
By the way, is Novac going to do time too? And what about Blake Carlson? Does anybody know? I think these two guys were the only ones in the SRU set up who used their real names.
RE: Death Sentence for Steve - Someone - 08-12-2008
Dennis Ruhl Wrote:Someone Wrote:"Poor" Steve may die in prison and it will be left up to "poor" Dixie to spend all those millions of dollars (stashed away who knows where) alone without her loving husband. What a lonely and difficult job it's going to be for her.
I suspect the missing $10 million is so much crap. Some kid gets busted for some dope and it has $3 million street value. The police seize a "cache of guns" and the picture is of some 19th century guns passed down from their grandfather. The authorities don't know how many people actually received degrees, going so far as putting people who simply made inquiries on their list.
Nice site you have here. I'll have to come back again.
Probably not $10 million, but still a lot of money. I'm sure that if not all, more than half of those on the list obtained a degree. Let's say that about 5000 (although I'm sure the number is much higher) got a degree. 5000 x about $1000 per degree = $ 5 million!!!
So, they are still going to live in luxury for many years if they survive the prison.
RE: Death Sentence for Steve - ham - 08-12-2008
Quote:I don't disagree with you about Phoenix and some of those for profit multimillion university enterprises. However, people still get an education there from real professors, they are not run by a bunch of uneducated crooks using a dozen aliases each. That makes a difference, don't you think?
well, judging from the complaints about 'facilitators' and 'study groups', I doubt it...
RE: Death Sentence for Steve - Fort Bragg - 08-13-2008
Someone Wrote:"Amateur"? I don't think so. Cocksure of themselves and as a result careless? Definitely yes.
A slick operation would have had no connection to US citizens other than as paid consultants. Incorporation, all board members, all records, and the server should have been outside the US.
It seems they were bringing Liberians on board but it wasn't soon enough. Also the records were their ultimate downfall. Credit cards could have cleared in the Cayman Islands to keep the finances out of Liberia.
And one last thing. Don't tick off the tax man.
RE: Death Sentence for Steve - Herbert Spencer - 08-13-2008
Someone Wrote:"Amateur"? I don't think so...SRU had obtained "genuine" (genuine not in the sense that they represented the truth, but in the sense that they were signed by the appropriate officials), official documents of accreditation and also a charter that dated back in 1984. To my knowledge, no other mill has ever been able to do that.
An interesting dichotomy. Definitely amateur, but amateur what?
If they really were millists they certainly didn't follow the classic model, or they wouldn't be going to jail.
On the other hand, you have non-academics trying to be establish a "university" using techniques they had used successfully for trade schools (e.g., the long-established and legitimate A Plus Institute).
Toward the latter I see a logical thought process at work. E.g., can't get accredited in the US, how about overseas? Bear says a school recognized by a foreign MoE is GAAP, what country will recognize us? Curriculum development is expensive and time-consuming, but RA schools use PLA. That's a legit concept, so let's try that...
So far, so good. I think that is why a lot of us have trouble with how all this went down. These really aren't classic millists. They followed a more-or-less legit theoretical model. (PLA is a joke but RA schools do it, Liberia is a joke but what third world country isn't?) I can see this as having been conceived, not in sin, but rather as a logical extension of the legit online trade school.
Now of course how all this got implemented is another issue. It sounds like it degenerated fairly quickly to "pay and play," although even at that there was plenty of testimony (such as from the fake-Arab feds) that they had to jump through more than a few paperwork verification hoops, not just a credit card.
So I think that is why there are so many "no other mill" instances such as you cite, because this was not a classic mill. There was an underlying effort to be something more than that. How much more, or at least how much more was achieved, is a good question. That probably is where the "amateur" criticism is most accurately applied. It probably wouldn't have hurt if someone who actually had been to college was involved. It's tough to fly a 747 if you've never seen a cockpit.
This seems more like a bungled "alternative education" operation than a bungled mill operation. Left to their own devices for a decade or two, would this have evolved into a higher life form? We'll never know, thanks to the efforts of those dedicated to protecting the multi-billion dollar RA endowments from competition.
RE: Death Sentence for Steve - ham - 08-13-2008
Quote:A slick operation would have had no connection to US citizens other than as paid consultants. Incorporation, all board members, all records, and the server should have been outside the US.
It seems they were bringing Liberians on board but it wasn't soon enough. Also the records were their ultimate downfall. Credit cards could have cleared in the Cayman Islands to keep the finances out of Liberia.
And one last thing. Don't tick off the tax man.
exactly
Quote:Toward the latter I see a logical thought process at work. E.g., can't get accredited in the US, how about overseas? Bear says a school recognized by a foreign MoE is GAAP, what country will recognize us? Curriculum development is expensive and time-consuming, but RA schools use PLA. That's a legit concept, so let's try that...
So far, so good. I think that is why a lot of us have trouble with how all this went down. These really aren't classic millists. They followed a more-or-less legit theoretical model. (PLA is a joke but RA schools do it, Liberia is a joke but what third world country isn't?) I can see this as having been conceived, not in sin, but rather as a logical extension of the legit online trade school.
I'll have to disagree here.
For ages mills have tried to give consistence to their 'accreditation'
while tooting the horn of freedom in academia. Most won't go beyond setting up some fake domain posing as accreditor.Dodgy schools in for the short run won't care; those in for the long-run will HAVE TO care.
Warnborough has tried many 'takes' on the matter and seems still to be seeking an answer.
I saw around the same time mills boasting 'accreditation'
from Malaysia, Pakistan, Comoros, etc, so the whole 'exotic' option might have been mainstream.Reminds me of the low-cost 'latin american passport program' scam: some 'friendly' small-time bureaucrat was located, who'd supply with blank passports, sold for an hefty fee -yet far below the usual price for a regular program- to the sucker.
When push came to shove, the passports were found out to be officially 'stolen' or 'missing' papers...
Accreditation may or may not be the way to go, but the third world isn't exactly the right place to go seek credibility.
Third world isn't chosen because of some mysterious academic secret, but because with a few thousands you get the balls rolling there, while in the west you need to be University of Phoenix to do that (=billionaire operation).