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PHOENIX - Prosecutor say 64 defendants have been sentenced for their roles in a massive scheme to defraud the United States out of more than a half-million dollars in student loan funds.

The case, known as United States v. Halton et. al., saw each of the 64 defendants plead guilty to charges including Conspiracy, Mail Fraud, Financial Aid Fraud, Theft of Government Funds and/or False Statements in Connection with Financial Aid. The final defendant was sentenced on Monday to a term of home detention and ordered to pay $15,295 in restitution.

"Student loans are scarce resources for serious students, not a honey pot for dishonest people," said U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke. "These 64 convictions - the largest number of defendants ever charged in a student loan fraud scheme -- should serve as a strong warning to anyone attempting to defraud the U.S. taxpayers. You will be caught, held accountable and prosecuted."

The convicted ringleader of the scheme, Trenda Halton, previously plead guilty to ten counts including Conspiracy, Mail Fraud and Financial Aid Fraud. She was sentenced to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay $581,060 in restitution.

According to prosecutors between July 2006 through October 2007, Halton and others recruited individuals to act as "straw students" in order to apply for federal financial aid at Rio Salado College. The applicants were neither active students at Rio Salado nor did they intend to become active students.

Prosecutors say Halton would submit admission and financial aid applications with forged and false information, and then charge a "fee" to straw students ranging from $500 to $1,500. She also accessed online classes using the identity of the straw students, to generate attendance records, which caused Rio Salado to authorize financial aid payments to the straw students.

The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General with assistance from the Surprise Police Department.