Two Arkansas Tech University students are being detained by authorities, accused of an elaborate scheme to defraud fellow students and at least one university professor out of thousands of dollars.
Anthony Dsane, 21, a student from Ghana, was arrested by Arkansas Tech police after he allegedly stole the identity of at least five people while working in the university’s library, according to court documents. Alicia Nichole O’Gwynn, 20, listed in court documents as Dsane’s girlfriend, is accused of hindering prosecution after police said she attempted to destroy documents that incriminated Dsane. O’Gwynn is also a Tech student.
Dsane, so far accused of 15 counts of felony forgery and six counts of financial identity fraud, is being held at the Pope County Detention Center after Russellville District Judge Don Bourne set his bond requirement at $200,000 last week. O’Gwynn has already been charged with hindering prosecution by 5th Judicial Prosecutor David Gibbons, and Bourne set her bond requirement at $7,500 Friday.
Arkansas Tech police would not comment on details surrounding the arrest, citing student confidentiality issues and saying the investigation was ongoing. Tech officer John Pritchard is investigating the incident.
According to court records, Dsane used his position as a student worker at the university’s library to gain personal information of at least four other students. He is accused of using one student’s personal information to receive four separate loans under the name that student, who was unaware of the loans, through a company called The Education Resources Institute. Police allege Dsane also received loans at several local banks by using that student’s identity.
Dsane was arrested Oct. 29 by Tech police while attempting to receive copies of his transcripts and just after he notified other University officials he planned to check out of his on-campus residence and drop out of school, according to court documents. Dsane told Bourne during his bond hearing that he had purchased an airplane ticket to London and planned to leave the country.
Two days later, university police were told O’Gwynn had received a number of Dsane’s possessions, including bags, suitcases, a laptop computer and several credit cards, according to court records. Tech officers, executing a search warrant for O’Gwynn’s apartment on West C Street, said they found O’Gwynn burning shredded financial documents on a barbecue grill, according to testimony at Friday’s bond hearing.
Police also located another bag of shredded documents in O’Gwynn’s apartment, according to an affidavit attached to her charging documents.
Pritchard also testified Friday that a hold has been placed on Dsane’s university mailbox until postal inspectors could investigate its contents.
