By Associated Press
Mobile, AL – Bishop State Community College President Doctor Yvonne Kennedy told reporters in Bay Minette Thursday morning that it would be premature for her to step down as president before a fraud investigation is completed. Kennedy spoke to reporters after a state school board meeting in which no action was taken against Kennedy. Kennedy, a member of the Alabama House of Representatives, said she respects the opinion of the board members but says she is not really prepared to go there, when asked about resigning. Bishop State has been embroiled in controversy since an audit determined that financial aid has been routinely awarded to people who are not enrolled at the college. In Mobile, two people have been arrested in connection with the criminal probe. Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Junior says former Bishop State employee Marlene French and Robert Horn were each charged with first-degree theft by deception. Tyson says French, who worked at the school business office, is accused of filing bogus paperwork for federal Pell Grants in Horn's name. He was NOT a student at Bishop State. Tyson alleges between September 2003 and February 2006, Horn cashed six of the grant checks for more than 65-hundred dollars. If convicted of the felony charge, both could face up to ten years in prison.