Teacher With Fake Credentials Sentenced

A man investigated for allegedly counterfeiting his teaching credentials was sentenced in King County Superior Court Friday to four months for theft and possession of stolen property.

Before the sentencing, Jack Gregory Ware asked for leniency.

"My teaching career is essentially over," he said. "I am verifably destitute."

Ware, 24, was ordered to pay $539.70 in court costs and penalties, but he won't be heading back to jail. He already has served one day over his sentence in King County Jail.

Ware, also known as J. Gregory Vanderbilt, taught seventh-grade English briefly at Sumner Junior High, a job he landed with a fake master's degree.

He was arrested Aug. 28 in Tukwila for investigation of possession of stolen property after trying to make 10 copies of a Georgia motor-vehicle registration form. A 1992 white Cadillac Deville in his possession was found to be stolen from a Georgia rental agency.

When his Magnolia home was searched, police recovered counterfeit government seals and seals from Georgia State University and Emory University.