On Tuesday, Southern California tutor Timothy Lance Lai pleaded guilty to computer fraud and burglary for placing keylogging software on teachers' computers to steal login credentials which he used to change students' grades and look at upcoming testing material. Lai was sentenced to one year in prison and five years on probation.

The Newport Beach Police Department became aware of a potential cheating ring in June 2013, when a science teacher told administrators that she thought someone had gone into her reporting software and changed some students' grades. In January 2014, 11 Corona del Mar High School students were expelled in connection with the scandal, and during the investigation one student said that Lai had asked him repeatedly to install a keylogging “device” on the computers of the AP World History, Honors Chemistry, Spanish, and English teachers. (The student said he only complied with loading the keylogger onto the AP World History teacher's computer.)

Investigators suspected that up to 150 students had worked with Lai, who could have been using keyloggers since as early as April 2012.

At the time of the students' expulsion, however, Lai was nowhere to be found—he ended up spending several months on the lam until he was arrested in Los Angeles International Airport last October. Lai was initially charged with five felony counts: one count of second degree commercial burglary and four counts of computer access and fraud. The investigation continued, and he ultimately was charged with 20 counts of computer access and fraud and theoretically could have faced up to 16 years in prison.

According to the Orange County District Attorney's office, Lai changed students' grades 19 times in total in 2013.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Corona del Mar High School Principal Kathy Scott told the court before Lai's sentencing yesterday that "lives were shaken” when parents discovered that “the person they trusted to help their student to improve academically undermined them and betrayed them by his leadership role in the cheating scandal."

"I profoundly apologize for the trouble I've caused in the past," Lai said yesterday. "I'm ready to make amends. … I'm really, truly sorry." Lai's attorney did not immediately return Ars' request for comment.