Meinert has a history of deception going back to his years as an undergraduate student at George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C. According to court documents, Meinert pled guilty to two felony counts of theft and fraud in October relating to money he illegally obtained from the United States Senate Federal Credit Union.

He had also been involved in other financial schemes, such as using the identity of friends to obtain illegal loans. Meinert could receive up to 10 years in Federal prison at his sentencing on December 13.

Meinert's true identity was revealed last week when GWU's student newspaper, The Hatchet, reported that Meinert had pled guilty to the felony charges.

Meinert responded to The Hatchet in an e-mail, saying, "I can tell you that I am very sorry for these actions and understand that they demonstrated poor judgement and character. I have spent much time contemplating these events and can tell you that I have made every effort since then not to repeat and learn from these mistakes."

Meinert used his Harvard e-mail account to contact The Hatchet, allowing them to discover that he was currently at Harvard, registered as an Extension School student. All Extension School students receive e-mail accounts on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences server, fas.harvard.edu.

Meinert had also used other Harvard computer services, creating a personal Web page that was accessible through the Harvard University Web site. The page, which was listed under the Class of 2002 directory, is currently inaccessible and was most likely disabled by Meinert, according to user support specialist Kenneth Troop.

According to University officials, this is the first case of its kind in which someone has posed as an undergraduate student through enrollment in the Extension School.