A commenter on an article about the latest diploma mill travesty gets it right. It’s easy to find out if someone’s educational claims are fraudulent. In this case, involving a Saratoga New York pretend psychologist who’s been running around ruining people’s lives, “State Police were notified about [Steven] Feldman’s suspicious credentials by a person referred to Feldman for evaluation by a Family Court judge. That man researched Feldman’s credentials and came across evidence that one of the schools, Hamilton University, is not an accredited institution.”

Right. See, if you’re a divorced man desperate, let’s say, to retain custody of your kids, you’re very motivated to find out whether the person who gets to decide – or at least powerfully advise – on that question is qualified to do so. You do the research — which involves a couple of Google clicks — and you find out the guy’s a fraud. “Feldman allegedly claims to have college degrees from Richardson University and Hamilton University, diploma mills once located in a former Motel 6 in Evanston Wyoming.”

Hamilton’s fakery is especially easy to discover — it was the featured diploma mill in congressional testimony and in a 60 Minutes special a few years ago.

But the Public Defender’s Office and the County Family Court (both of which chose to employ Feldman) don’t care. When it comes to the welfare of Saratoga’s children, any lying piece of shit will do.

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Steven Feldman faces four felony charges: grand larceny, scheme to defraud, falsifying business records and offering a false statement.

This one in Canada. All because agencies tasked with defending the welfare of children can’t be bothered to check the legitimacy of professional degrees.

From the Toronto Star:

… [Gregory] Carter has been charged by Durham Regional Police with fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice…

Andrea Maenza, a spokesperson for Durham [Children’s Aid Society], says that the agency ended its relationship with Carter in early 2009 when it learned that “he did his Ph.D. but the school was bogus.” [Weird formulation. Should be “He didn’t do his PhD. because the school is bogus.”]

Carter says he has a doctorate from Pacific Western University, which was investigated by the U.S. government in 2004 and found to be a diploma mill.

“We accepted his community reputation. In retrospect, we should have questioned it,” Maenza says, noting that Carter was called a “doctor” by lawyers and judges and relied upon in cases as an expert witness. [Everybody called him a doctor. That was good enough for us.]

He did more than 300 assessments for the agency, which has already conducted a preliminary review into them…

Meanwhile, the case against Steven Feldman (scroll down) proceeds.

Steven Feldman, the pretend psychologist hired — because he was the cheapest person available –by the family courts of Saratoga New York, hurt a lot of people. A diploma mill bullshitter, he determined the fate of many children and parents in that community in his capacity as expert advisor to judges.

At this point it is uncertain what effect it could have on Posporelis v. Posporelis [On Feldman’s recommendation, the court took shared custody away from the father in this case. Feldman wrote that the father had a personality disorder.] should Steven Feldman be found guilty of the charges against him. However, my sources tell me that there are numerous divorce, custody and other cases in Saratoga County in which Dr. Steven Feldman was involved and the potential fallout, should he be found guilty, is significant.

Penny-wise, pound-foolish, eh? Didn’t check his credentials, only went for him because he was cheap… And now look.

Background here.

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Oh. Here’s another one.

A Houston man who falsely claimed a doctorate in psychology but who’d purchased a degree online pleaded guilty today to receiving nearly $1 million from Medicare and Medicaid for phony behavioral counseling.

Edward Birts, 51, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a written statement from U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno.

Birts operated a behavioral counseling company called Courage to Change. He’d awarded himself bogus professional certifications in counseling, according to prosecutors. His plea agreement with the government said he billed the two government programs for $1.2 million for nonexistent psychological treatments and received more than $968,500 in payments.

Birts acquired beneficiaries’ names, addresses and account numbers which he would use to file false claims. Prosecutors said he claimed he employed a nonexistent doctor who ran nonexistent group therapy sessions…