Otis Opoku: One of Four Ghanaian Students Arrested Over Lehigh Forgery Acquitted And Discharged
- One of the four Ghanaian students implicated in the Lehigh University forgery case has been freed
- Otis Opoku was acquitted and discharged because there was not enough evidence to prove the charges against him
- However, Otis Opoku is expected to return to Ghana since his admission at the University has been rescinded
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Otis Opoku, one of the four former Ghanaian Lehigh University students arrested over alleged forgery has been acquitted and discharged.
The young man was freed by a court judge due to lack of enough evidence, a source who witnessed the hearing told YEN.com.gh.
Source: Facebook
On Monday, March 31, 2025, Otis and his legal team appeared before the court, where the judge ruled that there was no substantial proof to support the allegations against him.
Michael Weinert, County Prosecutor at the Northampton County Courthouse said Judge Jennifer R Sletvold granted former Lehigh student Otis Opoku’s motion for acquittal.
Former NSMQ star and others arrested in US
In September 2024, a former NSMQ participant whose team won the 2021 contest was arrested in the United States of America (USA) with three other Ghanaian students.
Evans Oppong and his friends including Otis Opoku were accused of falsifying their transcripts and other documents to gain admission to the University.
Source: UGC
Their admission was rescinded and they were detained following the incident. Months later, the hearing of one of the students has come to an end.
Otis has been acquitted of all charges and is expected to return to Ghana soon. Meanwhile, the other three students remain in custody.
The boys were unjustly detained
Speaking exclusively to YEN.com.gh, Perry Addey, a young man who witnessed Otis' hearing, said the students were unjustly detained.
"At the hearing, it became evident that the evidence linking the students to the alleged crimes of forgery and uttering of forged writing was weak. The motion for the charges to be dismissed was granted by Judge Jennifer R. Sletvold based on the fact that there was not enough evidence linking the students to the alleged crimes beyond reasonable doubt.
"The boys were unjustly imprisoned based on allegations of fraudulent transcripts—claims that lacked clear and substantive evidence linking them to any wrongdoing," he said.
Why Otis will soon return to Ghana
Opoku’s lawyer, Evan Hughes, stated that prosecutors presented their arguments during a one-day bench trial. Following their presentation, Hughes filed a motion for acquittal, arguing that the prosecution had failed to substantiate their claims. The judge concurred with this assessment, he added.
See the post below:
A spokesperson for Lehigh University previously stated that the institution had revoked the students' admissions after a review of applications uncovered “clear evidence of serious fraud” in a limited number of cases.
According to Hughes, Opoku’s admission revocation led to the cancellation of his visa, resulting in his detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and an impending deportation to Ghana.
Furthermore, since his admission was rescinded, he will be unable to transfer his academic credits, effectively erasing two to three years of his educational progress, Hughes lamented.
Ghanaian students studying in US increased by 45%
Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that the number of Ghanaian students studying in the US has risen by 45% for the 2023-2024 academic year.
Ghana was ranked number 18 among countries with students pursuing higher education in the US.
Ghanaian students earned about $9.2 million in scholarships to more than 680 schools in the US.
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Proofreading by Samuel Gitonga, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.
Source: YEN.com.gh
Jessie Ola-Morris (Human-Interest Editor) Jessie Ola-Morris is a Human Interest editor at YEN.com.gh. She has over three years of experience in journalism. She graduated from the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 2022 with a Bachelor's degree in Communication Studies. Her journalism career started with myjoyonline.com, a subsidiary of The Multimedia Group Limited, where she worked as a writer. Jessie also previously served as a multimedia journalist for The Independent Ghana. In 2024, Jessie completed Google News Initiative News Lab courses in Advanced Digital Reporting and Fighting Misinformation. Email: jessie.ola-morris@yen.com.gh
Samuel Gitonga (Copy editor) Samuel Gitonga is a Copy Editor at YEN.com.gh. He holds a Bachelor of Broadcast Journalism Degree from the Multimedia University of Kenya. He has over 7 years’ experience in the digital journalism industry. He started out his career at the Kenya News Agency and proceeded to work for several reputable media outlets in Nairobi.
