Students at the Polk State College in Lakeland, Florida are in a state of disbelief after it was revealed that the one of the most respected professors at the institution was actually a fraud and had forged his doctorate documents and certificates. The man everyone at the college looked up to until a few days ago is 55-year-old David Scott Broxterman. The professor was working at the Polk State College for over five years and his position required a doctorate degree. However, college authorities have only now managed to discover that “Professor” Broxterman had forged his doctorate documents to gain employment as professor at the college.
According to WFTS , “Professor” Broxterman was arrested on Wednesday. Charges of grand theft and cheating were reportedly filed against him. Polk State College is also suing him for wage fraud for the $258,760 that were paid to him over the course of his five-year employment at the college. Authorities might have never uncovered the fraud had it not been for a different fraud case that police were investigating against the professor. In this one, he was accused of having sold a worthless coin collection for thousands of dollars.
The former professor was known as “Dr. Broxterman” to PSC students. He claimed to have a doctorate in business organization and management which he received from the University of South Florida in 2007 and claimed that he had graduated with honors. After the fraud was detected, officials contacted the USF associate registrar Tony Embry who said that the professor had never been to the University of South Florida.
Apart from lying to people about his real credentials, the former professor had also made poorly forged copies of various documents to gain employment. These documents had glaring errors – including a few embarrassing typos all of which somehow missed the officials at PSC who were supposed to have checked his background before offering him the position at PSC.
One of the most glaring errors was in the diploma that was prominently displayed at the former professor’s office. It showed a black and white seal instead of the normal gold seal. The signature of the president of the University of South Florida was written as “Judith C. Genshaft,” while the actual name was “Judy L. Genshaft.” In another error, “board” was written as “baord” , according to WFTS ABC Action News .
Meanwhile, students at the PSC are concerned whether their class credits would be affected on topics that Broxterman “taught” them. One of the students of “Professor” Broxternman, Anthony Bates, told WFLA , “It’s just a shock that this man who taught me so much and has done so much for the school, is not who he says he is.”
That’s right — the former professor had built a solid reputation around him over the years and was much loved by all his students. On the website ratemyprofessors.com , he had received stellar ratings and comments from students. All of these point towards the fact that professor Broxterman certainly had great teaching abilities. He couldn’t however back it up with actual degrees. Many of his questions are now wondering as to why the professor had to do this in the first place because he could have easily gotten a doctorate with all his knowledge.
[Image via ABC, YouTube]
