He crafted an elaborate web of lies to con his way into Harvard University, authorities say, but Adam B. Wheeler wasn’t content to graduate quietly and get away with just a degree.
After two years of blending into campus life and racking up academic prizes and tens of thousands of dollars in grants and scholarships, Wheeler allegedly upped the ante: The 23-year-old senior applied for the prestigious Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships last fall using falsified credentials, including a fake transcript and work he plagiarized from a Harvard professor, investigators said.
Wheeler was indicted Monday on charges of larceny and identity fraud, among other counts. He also is accused of falsely claiming to have attended MIT and Phillips Academy and coauthored several books. If proven, the charges suggest a student on a fraudulent quest for advancement at all costs and raise questions about how he nearly got away with it.
“This defendant seriously undermined the integrity of the competitive admissions process, compromised the reputation of some of the finest educators and educational institutions in the country, and cheated those who competed honestly for what he fraudulently received,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said in a statement.
Leone also highlighted what he said was the financial toll from Wheeler’s alleged deeds: more than $45,000 in grants, scholarship and financial aid money awarded to him “based on lies and reproductions of other people’s hard work.”
Calls to Wheeler’s home in Milton, Del., were not returned.
Attempts to reach his lawyer were also not successful.
