Rickey Rickerson, 43, a former SF State teaching assistant, pleaded not guilty on Feb. 27 to 27 counts of petty theft with a prior conviction, two counts of making unauthorized changes on a computer and two counts of falsifying public records.

He was arrested three days before his arraignment. Rickerson's bail was set at $505,000 according to Erica Derryck, spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.

[X]press reported last semester that Rickerson was being investigated by university police for administering a practice JEPET in an Africana Studies composition class in the spring of 2008, promising his students that if they paid him the $40 JEPET fee, the scores would count and the students would be exempted from taking the actual test.

According to the district attorney's office, Rickerson allegedly pocketed the fees he collected from the students and made unauthorized changes in the school records, stating the students had passed JEPET using the practice test scores.

"Stealing from cash-strapped college students, taking advantage of their trust and undermining the integrity of academic records is a serious offense," said District Attorney Kamala Harris in a written statement.

If convicted, Rickerson could face three years for each petty theft count, three years for each count of computer fraud and four years for each count of falsifying records according to Harris' office.

Ellen Griffin, university spokeswoman, said, "The University acted quickly to investigate and take appropriate action, and there is nothing for students to be concerned about. One class of less than 50 students was involved--all were notified that their scores would be honored, allowing them to proceed with their academic work."

Rickerson was a teaching assistant for professor Ernest Brown who taught the composition class. Brown is no longer employed with SF State, according to Griffin. He was not mentioned in the district attorney's press release of Rickerson's arrest nor was Brown charged with anything.