Delaware man accused in Harvard fake case remains in Mass. jail

Andrew Wheeler of Milton, Del. still has not posted bail. He’s accused of attending Harvard with made up academic record

Andrew Wheeler remains in a Massachusetts jail charged with 20 counts of larceny and identity fraud connected to the faking of his academic record.  It was that fake academic record which allowed the former Delaware resident to enroll at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

A spokesman for the Middlesex County sheriff’s office would not give any indication on whether Wheeler would be able to post the $5,000 cash bail any time soon.

On Tuesday the New Republic revealed Wheeler had applied for an internship.  They posted Wheeler’s resume used in his application on line.  A spokesperson for the New Republic would only say Wheeler applied for a literary internship in the fall of 2009.  She would not comment further, but the story reports the magazine chose not to award the internship.

The Harvard Crimson has taken the Wheeler resume one step further.  They have picked apart a series of awards, books he claimed to have written, and lectures he credits to himself.  He lists a 4.0 average from Harvard.  Prosecutors claimed during Wheeler’s arraignment on Tuesday Wheeler did get a couple A’s in his classes, but also received B’s and D’s.

Wheeler is from Milton, Del.  He attended Caesar Rodney High School in Dover.  Wheeler’s former principal, Kevin Fitzgerald is now superintendent for the Caesar Rodney school district.  Fitzgerald told the Delaware State News that he first heard of an issues involving Wheeler when Yale University contacted the school in April.  Wheeler had put on his application that he had a perfect SAT score, graduated in 2007, and was class valedictorian.

Fitzgerald told the paper none of that was true.  He said Wheeler was “an A-B student.”  He was a member of the National Honor Society who graduated in 2005 in the top 10 percent of his class.

Fitzgerald told the paper he recalls Wheeler as “a really unassuming kid. There were no disciplinary issues or anything to indicate this would happen.”