Dade Medical College owner charged with illegally shuttering school

Ernesto Perez, the owner of the now-shuttered Dade Medical College, has been slapped with new criminal charges – this time for improperly closing the for-profit school one year ago.

Prosecutors charged Perez with two misdemeanor counts relating to the abrupt closure of the school’s eight Florida campuses, which had 2,000 students and 400 employees.

Perez, who surrenderedWednesday afternoon, was charged under a state law that requires that a school owner notify Florida’s Commission for Independent Education at least 30 days before its doors close. According to investigators, Perez made the decision on noon on Oct. 30, 2015, then notified staff and students via e-mail four hours later. The commission learned one hour after that.

Dade Medical College also did not complete a “written closure plan” mandated by law, which would have detailed training for students left in a lurch, information on refunds to those pupils and how academic records would be sent to the commission.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article109161532.html