A public-school teacher who flunked a state exam twice has confessed to hiring his mentally unstable tutor to take the test for him

Alex Ginsberg:

Wayne Brightly, 37, pleaded guilty to offering a false instrument for filing, in exchange for a sentence of three years' probation and 70 hours of community service.

Brightly, who was a teacher for 12 years, will also be required to resign.

"He took matters into his own hands, which he regrets doing," said his lawyer, Henry Mazurek.

Prosecutors charged that he recruited Rubin Leitner, a formerly homeless man who suffers from Asberger's syndrome - a form of high-functioning autism - but who holds a graduate degree in Asian history.

Brightly, who is black, was also charged with paying $35 for a fake ID that featured his name, but a photo of the 59-year-old Leitner, who is white.

Brightly's excellent performance on the October 2004 exam caught the eye of school investigators, who soon uncovered the fraud.

Schoolhouse crock

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