Cheating scandal documents: Police recorded CdM tutor’s talk with student

A private tutor accused of hacking into Corona del Mar High School servers to boost student grades discussed the alleged scheme with an involved student during a phone call recorded by police, according to school documents reviewed by the Daily Pilot.

The conversation between tutor Timothy Lance Lai, 29, and the student was detailed in an addendum to an official statement the student submitted by email on Dec. 27, 2013, to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and obtained Monday by the Daily Pilot through the California Public Records Act.

“I agreed to go to the Newport Beach Police Department to place a tape-recorded telephone call to Mr. Lai while officers listened in,” the student wrote. “During that call, I asked all of the questions suggested by the detectives, and it resulted in Mr. Lai admitting to doing everything that I had said he did.”

Newport police and prosecutors would not discuss whether the recording would be used as evidence in the case – a hearing is set for Friday in Orange County Superior Court – or whether they believed the conversation confirmed Lai’s involvement in the plot to boost grades.

However, Newport Beach Police Officer David Syvock wrote in a affidavit that he was present in the interview room during the monitored conversation and that he believes Lai implicated himself.

“Lai also identified other CdM High students who were involved in the scheme as he told [the student] that they were [in trouble],” Syvock wrote, according to an affidavit attached to a warrant to search Lai’s former Irvine home.

The Pilot could not locate Lai. His attorney, Donald Rubright, declined to comment on specifics of the case, other than saying, “I think everyone, including my client, would like this to be over with.”

Lai, who is expected to appear in Orange County Superior Court for Friday’s pre-trial hearing, has pleaded not guilty to one count of second-degree burglary and four counts of computer fraud.

The Pilot could not determine whether Irvine remains the defendant’s city of residence, though a neighbor said he no longer lives in the house that was searched by police. His lawyer said his client is still living in Orange County.

Lai faces up to five years and eight months in jail if convicted, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

The tutor allegedly provided students with key loggers — devices that capture keystrokes — to place on their teachers’ computers in an effort to obtain passwords and change grades and access exams.

In June 2013, a teacher discovered that student grades had been changed and contacted school administrators. The district and police launched an investigation, but couldn’t identify the tutor.

That December, school officials discovered that a key logger had been placed on a teacher’s computer and grades had been altered. CdM administrators obtained Lai’s name through subsequent student interviews.

The main goal of the students involved, self-dubbed “The Bakers,” was to “cupcake” teachers, meaning they would round up grades in the district’s database or benefit from having tests or questions available to them by gaining access to their instructors’ email accounts, according to a written statement by CdM Assistant Principal Tim Tolzda.

Tolzda was one of several CdM administrators and police officers who interviewed students on Dec. 17, school district records show.

Eleven students were expelled in the aftermath of the scandal. Student involvement in ranged from having knowledge of the cheating, receiving test questions in advance and key logging, officials have said.

“At this point, this is a matter for the courts,” said Newport-Mesa spokeswoman Laura Boss. “The district has confidence in the legal system and will await further comment until such time as the legal process has concluded.”

Newport Beach detectives arrested Lai at Los Angeles International Airport in October as he was returning on a flight from South Korea, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Police believe he fled the country after the cheating came to light in 2013.