One of the operators of a notorious diploma mill, Dixie E. Randock, was sentenced today to three years in prison, according to the federal prosecutor’s office in Spokane, Wash. Ms. Randock, along with her husband, Steven K. Randock, had pleaded guilty to fraud-conspiracy charges in March.

The Randocks made millions of dollars selling fake degrees online, usually issued under the name Saint Regis University. The bogus institution was based in Spokane but had ties to the government of Liberia and claimed accreditation through that country’s ministry of education. Representatives of the fake university bribed Liberian officials and created seals and stamps to make their diplomas appear authentic, according to court documents.

A good deal of the credit for bringing down Saint Regis belongs to George Gollin, a physics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who investigates diploma mills as a pastime and helped bring the fraudulent operation to federal attention. —Thomas Bartlett