Officials: Arrests in nursing school scam

Eight people were arrested in morning raids Thursday and charged with stealing millions of dollars in tuition and fees collected at bogus nursing schools they ran in Floral Park, Franklin Square, Brooklyn and Queens Village, state officials said.

The five schools, according to state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, conferred fake certificates to students.

The students had paid a total of more than $6 million in tuition and fees.

"This case sends a clear message to anyone looking to profit off of exploitation and fraud: You will be caught," Schneiderman said in a statement announcing the raids and arrests.

Four of the defendants were arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court on charges including third-degree grand larceny and scheme to defraud. Four more are to be arraigned Friday, said Lauren Passalacqua, a spokeswoman for Schneiderman.

Arrested were Robinson Akenami, 36, of Woodhaven, Queens; Jocelyn Allrich, 52, of Elmont; Nadege Auguste, 36, Andre Castage, 54, and Carline D'Haiti, 55, all of Brooklyn; Salavatrice Gaston, 56 of West Babylon; Anthony Myers, for whom no age nor hometown was available; and Frantz Simeon, 55 of Freeport.

Three other defendants, Rodye Paquiot, 43 of Plainsboro, N.J., and Jude Valles and Carl Lee Sellers of Georgia, were also named but they live out of New York State. State officials said they intend to file extradition papers for the three.

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Simeon was held on $300,000 bond or $150,000 cash while Allrich, Auguste and Gaston were held on $250,000 bond or $100,000 cash.

The Long Island schools were Hope-VTEC, which is also known as Allrich Productions, Inc.; Hope Nursing Tutorial Services, and Tutorial Nursing Prep, located at 1057-1059 Hempstead Tpk. in Franklin Square, and Helping Angels Foundation of America, which operated at 245-06 Jericho Tpk. in Floral Park, officials said.

Students paid between $7,000 and $20,000 to attend classes for up to two years, officials said. They were then issued fraudulent transcripts bearing the name of a school in the country of Jamaica called National Academy, which is not authorized by the state Department of Education to operate in New York.

Attorneys for the suspects could not be reached for comment.