The University Judicial Office has brought university charges against the former Student Association members who have been charged with criminal credit card fraud.

“All the students are subject to expulsion if found guilty,” said Larry Bolles, director of the University Judicial Office.

Bolles told the Northern Star that the recommended sanction for the students involved is expulsion.

Last week, former Director of Organizational Development Lonnie Pollard and former senators Richmond Clayton, Anthony Currie, Wendell “Danton” Floyd and Orlando Murrell were charged with unauthorized possession and use of another person’s property. Two NIU students not associated with the SA, April Harper and Ebonique Welton, also were charged by the judicial office.

All of the students have preliminary hearings scheduled, at which time they will be informed of the charges and what their rights are, Bolles said.

The university charges stem from an incident that occurred Dec. 30 when the students allegedly purchased $1,100 worth of merchandise with a found credit card at the Sycamore Road Target. The seven students face criminal charges of unlawful use of a credit card, a Class 3 felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

After the students meet with a representative from the judicial office, they are given 24 hours to make one of three pleas, Bolles said.

A plead of not guilty will mean the student will get a choice of facing a single faculty member administrative meeting or a judicial meeting, composed of two faculty members and three students, to decide whether they are guilty.

“We have a different standard of law,” Bolles said. “Whereas in a court of law a person is convicted with almost total certainty, the judicial office needs essentially 51percent certainty.”

A student also can plead guilty, facing the recommendation of the judicial office, or plead guilty and try to appeal the sentence.