Teacher Uses Indigent Imposter To Fool Certifiers

A Bronx middle school teacher manipulated an indigent man into taking a teacher certification test for him, according to a report released yesterday by the special commissioner of investigation for the school system.The teacher at M.S. 142, Wayne Brightly, allegedly told his former tutor, Rubin Leitner, that he was tired of failing the New York State Teacher Certification Exam. Mr. Brightly created a false state identification card and coerced Mr. Leitner, who was formerly homeless and had been placed with an 82-year-old Brooklyn woman by the Human Resources Administration, to take the certification exam, according to the report by Special Commissioner Richard Condon. He then used the fake ID and the test score to procure a Department of Education identification card.When investigators started looking into the suspicious test score, Mr. Brightly threatened Mr. Leitner and forced him go to an interview with schools investigators posing as Mr. Brightly.Mr. Condon criticized the education department for being too lax with its identification procedures and the state Education Department for failing to cooperate in a timely and complete manner with the investigation.The counsel to the city schools chancellor, Michael Best, said the department immediately removed Mr. Brightly from the school when it discovered his “corrupt, fraudulent behavior.”“While this elaborate scheme is only a single case involving one teacher, we are taking measures to prevent the possibility of a similar scheme succeeding in the future,” he said in a statement. “In fact, since 2000, the department has been taking photos of all job applicants at the same time they are fingerprinted, and we maintain a database of all these photos.”Mr. Brightly was arrested last month in the Bronx. He was charged with falsifying business records and offering a false instrument for filing, both of which carry a sentence of one and a third to four years.He is due in court on April 14 for a preliminary hearing.

Teacher Uses Indigent Imposter To Fool Certifiers

Teacher Uses Indigent Imposter To Fool Certifiers

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