Guilty plea in exchange-student scandal

A woman accused of placing foreign exchange students in filthy homes in northeastern Pennsylvania pleaded guilty yesterday to three misdemeanor counts of child endangerment.

Edna Burgette, 69, who pleaded guilty in Lackawanna County Court, had placed exchange students in Scranton-area homes as a coordinator for the Aspect Foundation, a nonprofit in San Francisco.

The State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has taken steps to correct what it acknowledged were "serious problems" with oversight of exchange students.

Burgette pleaded guilty last week to a federal mail-fraud charge, admitting she collected $2,900 by using fraudulent paperwork related to the placement of five exchange students.