SANTA ANA – A 21-year-old Tesoro High School graduate who broke into his school repeatedly to change grades and steal tests nearly three years ago will serve 30 days in jail and pay nearly $15,000 in restitution under a plea agreement reached Monday.
Omar Khan of Coto de Caza pleaded guilty to five felony counts; he also will perform 500 hours of community service and remain on three years’ probation, according to the terms approved Monday by an Orange County Superior Court judge. Khan was scheduled to stand trial beginning Monday in Santa Ana after being arrested in 2008 for breaking into his high school in Las Flores at least six times.
“He made some bad judgment calls and has taken full responsibility and is trying to say, ‘I’m sorry,’ ” said his attorney, Carol Lavacot. “He really feels bad about what he did and what he put his family and friends through.”
Before Monday’s plea deal, Khan was facing 69 felony counts for altering public records, computer access and fraud, burglary, identity theft and conspiracy, and he faced up to 38 years in prison. Khan had pleaded not guilty to all 69 felony charges and was free on $50,000 bail.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office said Khan was given a lighter sentence in his plea deal than what prosecutors had been seeking.
“Our offer and our expectation was that he would have received a greater sentence,” said spokeswoman Farrah Emami, declining to comment further.
Lavacot said her client had reached his decision to accept a plea deal after nearly three years of agony, frustration and four different attorneys.
Lavacot was his first attorney when he was charged in June 2008; she was dropped in favor of celebrity attorney Mark Geragos of Los Angeles. Geragos eventually was replaced by Kazbek Soobzokov of Santa Ana, who subsquently declared an ethical conflict of interest and was removed from the case. Public defender Karren Kinney was assigned to replace Soobzokov. Eventually, she was dropped and Lavacot, an Irvine attorney, was retained again.
“It wasn’t like there was a lot of guidance for Omar, and so he kept thinking he wanted to go to trial because he wanted the jurors to see all he basically did was cheat and he didn’t mean to hurt anyone else,” Lavacot said. “It’s really important to him that people don’t think of him as a bad person.”
Prosecutors say Khan hacked into Capistrano Unified School District’s student database, where he changed his grades and the grades of at least 12 other students. Khan also altered his Advanced Placement exam scores, stole an English test and pilfered master copies of tests, some of which were emailed to dozens of Advanced Placement students.
Lavacot said Khan was particularly frustrated at being singled out for prosecution. Prosecutors have described Khan as the “mastermind” of the elaborate cheating plot, but Lavacot said he was just one in a group of 10 Tesoro students involved in the cheating ring.
Khan’s former co-defendant, Tanvir Singh of Ladera Ranch, pleaded guilty in September 2008 to one felony count and one misdemeanor count for breaking into Tesoro High to steal a test. He was given three years’ probation and 200 hours of community service.
None of the other alleged co-conspirators were charged because they were minors at the time, Lavacot said, although she noted it was possible they had received informal disciplinary action as minors through the Orange County Probation Department. Those cases would not be public record.
“Just because his birthday was January instead of May or June, he was treated as an adult and he has no protection the rest of his life,” Lavacot said. “That’s why it was so hard after all these years seeing Omar being treated like an adult for the same activity these juveniles engaged in.”
The District Attorney’s Office said it was prohibited by law from discussing whether there were any juvenile co-conspirators and whether they were disciplined.
Khan’s formal sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 26. At that hearing, he will have the opportunity to petition the judge to expunge some or all of his felony convictions from his record. He is scheduled to serve his 30-day jail sentence in Orange County Jail, but has the option to transfer to a private jail facility.
Khan has been attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo since last fall on scholarship, after attending community college for two years, Lavacot said.
“We really hope this doesn’t affect his future,” Lavacot said. “He has total regret for what he did. When he looks back, he says, ‘What was I thinking? What a dumb, dumb thing to do.'”
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