Ex-Miami student sentenced for fixing grades

The second of two former Miami University students who breached the university's computer systems to electronically change grades has been sentenced to probation.

David Callahan, 22, of Cambridge, Mass., was charged with three counts of attempted unauthorized use of property in April along with Beckley Parker, 21, of Weston, Conn., who pleaded guilty to six counts of the same misdemeanor charge.

On Thursday, Callahan was sentenced by Butler County Area I Court Judge Robert Lyons to one year probation. He was given a 180-day suspended jail sentence, a $3,000 fine and ordered to pay restitution of $1,610.

Callahan changed his grade once and two other students’ grades in an effort to cover his actions.

Parker changed his own grades in 17 different classes and the grades of more than 50 students dating back to the spring of 2011.

Parker was sentenced earlier this summer to two years probation and was ordered to pay $6,000 in fines.

The university’s information technology security department and university police were alerted by a faculty member near the end of fall semester 2012 that grades she reviewed online did not match her paper copy of grades, according to Claire Wagner, the university’s director of news and communications.

An investigation revealed that a key logger was used on classroom computers to record keystrokes made by instructors to obtain faculty usernames and passwords when they logged into the system.

The university’s internal investigation discovered that most changes were minor and didn’t affect the final grade outcome.

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