HOUSTON — Three of the five defendants charged in a major teaching certification cheating scandal faced a Houston judge Friday. The Houston Independent School District educators are each charged with two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity.
Investigators said the alleged scheme led to more than 200 unqualified Texas teachers statewide who have fraudulent certifications.
Prosecutors called Booker T. Washington High School boys basketball coach Vincent Grayson the “kingpin” of the alleged scheme. Grayson allegedly charged teachers seeking certifications $2,500 a pop to check in at testing centers while someone else took the tests for them. He made more than $1 million from the scheme, according to prosecutors.
Grayson’s attorney, Cheryl Irvin, acknowledged the severity of the allegations in court Friday.
“This is a serious case because it involves education. We all know that a community struggles when the education system struggles, so I know everyone is concerned and should be concerned about that,” Irvin said.
But Irvin added that there is a lot of information that has to be sorted through in order for the court to make the right decision.
“The State has the burden to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Grayson is presumed innocent at this period of time, and so we’ll wait and receive the evidence that would indicate to us what evidence they have against him to allow us to evaluate what we should do next,” Irvin said.
The attorney for Yates High School assistant principal LaShonda Roberts shared a similar sentiment. Roberts is charged with recruiting nearly 100 teachers to participate in the cheating scheme.
“We’ve seen this office make high-profile allegations before, only to have the case quietly filed away, because the evidence isn’t there,” defense attorney Brandon Leonard said. “We’ve seen nothing compelling here, and I want everyone to remember that my client is innocent unless and until proven guilty, so we look forward to our day in court.”
Nicholas Newton, an assistant principal at Booker T. Washington, appeared before the judge Friday in an orange jumpsuit. Newton allegedly participated in the cheating scheme as a proxy test-taker.
Newton’s attorney, Feroz Merchant, was just assigned to the case Friday. He said he is still waiting to receive more information about the case.
“I’ve spoken to the prosecutor who handled the case, and he’s going to turn over discovery and give me an opportunity to digest that, to see how best to proceed,” Feroz said.
Newton’s bonds were originally set at $100,000 each, but the judge lowered them to $25,000 each.
KHOU 11 also learned that a fourth person charged in the scandal, test proctor Darian Wilhite, appeared in probable cause court early Friday morning. Wilhite allegedly accepted bribes to allow Newton to act as a testing proxy.
“The defendant was also caught in the act in February 2024, where she admitted accepting cash bribes in order to allow another defendant to test for other teachers,” the prosecutor said.
Wilhite is expected to be back in court on Monday. Grayson, Roberts and Newton are all scheduled to be back in court in January.
District Attorney Kim Ogg said two of the people who paid to have the fake certification ended up being charged with crimes against children. She said one was charged with indecency with a child and another was charged with online solicitation of a minor.
"It was the access through the certification that was false that allowed them to commit the crimes," Ogg said.
If convicted, the suspects could get up to life in prison.