Clarence Mumford Sr
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(WMC-TV) - A son has been indicted for allegedly scamming his way into a teaching job just a month after his father was indicted for heading up a group that investigators say took tests for aspiring teachers. RELATED ITEMS News release on indictment against Clarence Mumford, Jr., and Dante Dowers
Man accused of orchestrating teacher certification scheme Clarence Mumford, Jr., is accused of having someone else take his PRAXIS exam. Federal prosecutors say he used those test results to become a licensed educator in Tennessee.
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John Bowen, 63, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, Social Security fraud and fraud in connection with identification documents. Bowen admitted he was paid by the scam's ringleader, Clarence Mumford, Sr., to take certification tests under other people's identities.
Mumford, Sr., his son Clarence Mumford, Jr., and Dante Dowers were charged in a 49-count indictment for fraud and aggravated identity theft for charging aspiring teachers in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas $1,500 to $3,000 per test to have stand-ins take the Praxis certification for them. According to the indictment, the scam ran from 1995 to March 2010.
Bowen stated at his hearing he met Mumford, Sr. during the 1994-95 school year while he was a substitute teacher at Humes High School, where Mumford was the assistant principal. Bowen said he had three or four tests per year since 2000 and was paid hundreds of dollars for each test. Investigators eventually caught Bowen in 2009 when he took two tests under two identities on the same day at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. Other test takers hired by Mumford were also present at the time doing the same thing.
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Man in Teaching Fraud Scandal Gets DUI Trial Continuance Tunica County, Ms -
A day after being indicted and accused of acting as the ringleader of a 3-state teacher test-taking scheme, Clarence Mumford did not come to court in Tunica County, Mississippi. He was arrested by sheriff's deputies there in April after being picked up at a Robinsonville convenience store for DUI and indecent exposure. Mumford's trial in that case, set for Wednesday, has been continued. Meanwhile his Federal case in Memphis is just getting started. .