Grade hacking began as a joke, challenge
That's what Cherry Hill resident Jonathan To told police. The Drexel freshman pleaded guilty to theft.
It started as a practical joke and a test to see if he could change his friends' computerized grades at Cherry Hill High School East and escape detection. Soon Jonathan To was taking money for boosting the grades of "A" students who had gotten some B's, authorities say.
Details of the criminal case against To, 18, a June graduate of the school, emerged yesterday after he pleaded guilty to a third-degree charge of computer theft.
To, a freshman at Drexel University who commutes from his home in Cherry Hill, could receive up to five years' probation when he is sentenced March 30. Under the terms of the plea agreement, a second-degree charge of computer theft, which carries a maximum 10-year jail sentence, would be dismissed.
Accompanied to court by his mother and his pastor, To offered no explanation during a brief hearing before Superior Court Judge John T. McNeill 3d. To admitted he used a password, without authorization, to access a board of education computer database to improve grades for high school students on Sept. 8. To told police that when he was a senior at the high school he changed the grade of an unsuspecting student as a practical joke, said Assistant Prosecutor Judy Berry. According to his statement to police, he eventually changed grades for a total of five students and accepted money to make some of the changes, Barry said. She did not know how much he got.
William C. O'Brien Jr., To's attorney, disputed that payments were made and said To only changed two grades.
"It was a prank to see if he could get into the computer. He changed two grades, and one he changed back," O'Brien said.
He said To is remorseful and wants to "put this behind him." To was not charged with fixing his own grades.
After a teacher noticed a discrepancy in one student's grades last fall, the school conducted an audit and discovered five students' grades had been altered. Guidance counselors alerted colleges that the problem had been corrected and the transcripts of the students were accurate.
Last week, a 17-year-old senior, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, received one year of probation and 100 hours of community service after pleading guilty to the same third-degree charge.
The four other students have been disciplined by the school but have not been criminally charged.