At a court hearing held on Monday at the Northampton County Courthouse, county prosecutor Michael Weinert said Judge Jennifer R. Sletvold granted former Lehigh student Otis Opoku’s motion for acquittal.
Otis Opoku is one of four Ghanaian former Lehigh students who was arrested on Sept. 6, 2024 on the charges of forgery and theft of services after the Lehigh University Police Department investigations revealed the submission of allegedly falsified transcripts to the Office of Admissions.
Evan Hughes has been representing Opoku since September, along with two of the other former students, Henry Dabuo and Evans Oppong. The fourth former student, Cyrilstan Nomobon Sowah-Nai, is being represented separately.
An Instagram account, @friendsofghanaboys, has been active since Sept. 17 to provide updates about the cases. According to the account’s most recent post, “Otis has been acquitted from all charges and is expected to go home soon.”
Provost Nathan Urban said once the students’ admissions were rescinded, the school had to contact the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement through a Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
An F-1 Visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows foreign citizens to study in the U.S. Attorney Micheal Renneisen said ICE monitors F-1 Visas and normally doesn’t take custody of those without citizenship who are accused of a crime until the criminal proceedings have concluded.
Though the university doesn’t have a role in the deportation process, Urban said each student’s Visa has been canceled.
Renneisen said even if the former students are acquitted, they no longer have legal status to remain in the U.S.
This is because no longer being enrolled at Lehigh is a violation of their F-1 status, he said, and failure to maintain F-1 status subjects them to removal.
“They use what’s called an ICE detainer,” Renneisen said. “So essentially, ICE will request that a city or state not release an inmate for 48 hours, even after the person has served their sentence, so that ICE can take custody of the person and move them to an ICE detention facility until removal proceedings are concluded.”
Sowah-Nai’s criminal court hearing is set for April 28, and Oppong and Dabuo are awaiting a pre-trial conference on May 7.
According to Opoku’s docket sheet, updated today, the case is now closed.
A student shared a statement with The Brown and White on behalf of the “FriendsoftheGhanaBoys” group following Opoku’s hearing.
The statement said the hearing revealed the evidence linking the students to the alleged crimes was weak, and the motion to dismiss the charges was granted due to a lack of evidentiary support.
While acknowledging the progress in Opoku’s case, the statement said the three other former students remain imprisoned under the same unjust circumstances.
According to the statement, many students are demanding answers as to why the university has failed to sustain the former students’ due process and ability to have a fair and transparent process, as they were treated as guilty without having clear evidence.
“The administration’s actions up to this point raise concerns amongst international students who feel as if they will be under investigation as well,” the statement said.
1 Comment
in my opinion all of them should be allowed to 1) return to lehigh and 2) be given like at least two degrees as an apology
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