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Two San Diegans charged in college admissions scheme

Posted at 4:17 PM, Mar 12, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-13 21:11:53-04

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- Several San Diegans are facing charges for reportedly participating in a college admissions scheme.

One of the people accused in the scheme is Toby MacFarlane, who was a senior executive at an insurance company living in Del Mar, according to the indictment.

According to the document, MacFarlane participated in the scheme by agreeing to use bribery to get his son and daughter into USC for soccer and basketball.

RELATED: Actresses Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin charged in alleged college admissions scheme

The documents show that MacFarlane reportedly paid an agency to fabricate a soccer profile for his daughter and a basketball profile for his son.

MacFarlane reportedly paid $450,000 to various organizations for the admissions. His daughter attended the school from 2014 to 2018 when she graduated, according to the documents. His son attended the school from 2017 to 2018.

MacFarlane is being charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

The other San Diegan accused in the scheme is Elisabeth Kimmel, a former owner and president of a media company that owned KFMB.

LIST: These are all the people charged in the alleged college cheating scam

Kimmel reportedly participated in the scheme by conspiring to use bribery to get her daughter into Georgetown as a tennis recruit and her son into USC as a track recruit for pole vaulting.

Kimmel’s daughter attended Georgetown beginning in 2013 and graduated in 2017.

According to the documents, Kimmel paid $450,000 to various organizations for the admissions.

Kimmel is being charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

Both Kimmel and MacFarlane were taken into custody in San Diego Tuesday morning.

Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were also charged in the nationwide conspiracy.

Athletic coaches from Yale, Stanford, USC, Wake Forest and Georgetown, among others, are implicated in the case. The extensive case involved arrests in six states across the country, and accused the defendants of committing crimes between 2011 and 2019.

Federal prosecutors said the scheme had two major pieces. In the first part, parents allegedly paid a for-profit college prep organization -- Southern California-based The Key -- to cheat on the SAT or ACT entrance exams by having others take the tests on behalf of students or correct their answers. Secondly, the organization allegedly bribed college coaches to help admit the students into college as recruited athletes, regardless of their actual ability, prosecutors said.

CNN contributed to this report.