Mahmoud Maawad, a former student at the University of Memphis and two New Jersey community colleges, was sentenced today to 13 months in prison for fraud. He will be deported back to Egypt, his homeland, after he is released.

Mr. Maawad, 29, pleaded guilty last month to felony wire fraud after running up a $2,500 unpaid bill with a pilot-supply company (The Chronicle, June 7). He had also used a phony Social Security number to enroll at Memphis, where he was a freshman at the time of his arrest last fall (The Chronicle, September 19, 2005). Federal investigators initially suspected him of terrorist ties after discovering pilot-training DVD’s and Memphis-airport maps in his off-campus apartment, but they said in June that their terrorism investigation had concluded.

According to The Commercial Appeal, a Memphis newspaper, law-enforcement authorities found that Mr. Maawad had conducted Internet searches on smuggling guns and bombs through airport security. “I didn’t mean anything bad,” he said. “I like to know. That’s all.”