Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Two Charged in Plot to Cheat on Entrance Exam

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 13:52:42 -0500

November 20, 2002

Two Charged in Plot to Cheat on Entrance Exam

By ELISSA GOOTMAN

GARDEN CITY, N.Y., Nov. 19 — Two Columbia University undergraduates have been charged with
carrying out a
high-tech plot to cheat on graduate school entrance examinations with the help of laptop
computers, wireless microphones
and a digital camera, the police said today.

The students, Bryan Laulicht, 21, of Great Neck, N.Y., and Sasha Bakhru, 22, of
Loudonville, N.Y., were arrested on Monday aftera staff member at a testing center here
noticed Mr. Laulicht fiddling with a computer in a room where Mr. Bakhru was scheduled to
take the Graduate Record Examinations moments later, officials said.

At that point, the two students were still trying to iron out the kinks in their plan,
which they were trying for the second time, the
police said. The scheme called for one man to take the test on a computer in a private
room at the Sylvan Learning Center, then
attach a transmitter to the computer and send images of test questions to a laptop in a
van parked nearby, the police said. In the
van, they said, the other student would save the images. He would also look up or
calculate answers and radio them to the test
taker, who would be wearing a wireless earpiece.

The police said the students told them they had designed the system, using equipment that
Mr. Bakhru said cost $12,000, in the hopethat getting high scores on the test, known as
the G.R.E., would earn them scholarships. But the police are investigating whether they
were also going to sell exam questions to other prospective test takers.

"This was an entire elaborate set-up," said Detective Sgt. James H. Bartkowski of the
Garden City Police Department. "We think
there are other motives involved."

The students, who officials said were roommates scheduled to graduate in 2003, were
arraigned today in First District Court in
Hempstead on charges of unlawful duplication of computer material and third-degree
burglary. They did not enter pleas.

The Nassau County District Court judge, Norman Janowitz, allowed them to be freed on
supervised release; if they violate the
terms of the release, bail will be $100,000, an official said. The police said both
students were released to the custody of their
parents.

A woman who answered the phone at the Bakhru home said the family did not wish to comment
on the case. The Laulicht family
could not be reached for comment.

The students bought their equipment at stores including Best Buy and CompUSA, officials
said, and used their technical know-how to create some of it. The police said Mr. Bakhru
told them he was a micro-electronic engineer, and in 1999 the Great Neck Record published
an article congratulating Mr. Laulicht and several other students for being named
semifinalists in the Intel science contest.

Earlier this year, the police said, both men signed up to take the examination at a
testing center in Manhasset. They chose to retake it at the Garden City center, officials
said, because it has a room where people with physical or learning disabilities can take
the test privately.

On Nov. 11, the authorities said, Mr. Laulicht took the test in the private room, citing
respiratory problems. Mr. Bakhru sat in the
van that day, the police said, where he was to use a device called a dazzler to save the
images of test questions on the laptop; just in case, he would also photograph the laptop
screen with a digital camera. But Mr. Laulicht abandoned the test because the wireless
communication system was not working properly, the police said.

According to test rules, students must wait 30 days before retaking the G.R.E., so on
Monday, Mr. Bakhru, who also said he
suffered respiratory problems, was scheduled to take the test in the private room, the
police said. As he waited in the reception
area, the police said, a testing center staff member saw Mr. Laulicht in the private room,
attaching a transmitter to the computer.

When caught, the police said, Mr. Laulicht explained his presence by saying he had lost
his credit card, and quickly left the building. But staff members called the police, who
arrested both men.

Sergeant Bartkowski said investigators suspected that the men intended to make money from
their scheme. He said that while
questioning Mr. Bakhru, he had voiced sympathy about the difficulty of the test.

"He got very indignant and said, `I can ace this with my eyes closed,' " the sergeant
recalled. "Common sense would tell you that
they're in on this gold mine. If you could pass this test with your eyes closed, why set
up this elaborate scheme?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/20/education/20EXAM.html?pagewanted=print&position=top

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