A former Iowa State student pleaded guilty Monday to third-degree burglary, confessing to charges that he and a friend broke into Alumni Hall last winter to create fake transcripts to apply to other universities.

Ali Liaquat, 21, admitted in Story County District Court that he and another former ISU student, Faraz Shah, 24, broke in to the building sometime in January to steal blank ISU letterhead.

A Department of Public Safety investigation found that Liaquat and Shah broke into the office of the Registrar in Alumni Hall, according to court documents.

While in the office, the two allegedly used official stamps and seals to make the letterhead look authentic. They then took the paper home and created a transcript-like document on a personal computer to print onto the stolen stamped letterhead.

The pair, both natives of Pakistan, allegedly attempted to use the manufactured transcripts to apply to the University of Michigan and to universities in California.

Shah was a former math tutor for Liaquat.

Several other burglary charges, along with fake transcript charge similar to the one facing former ISU volleyball coach Kerry Miller, were also connected to Liaquat. All charges other than the original burglary offense were dropped against him as part of a plea bargain with Story County prosecutors.

Liaquat will now face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $7,500.

Shah faces charges of burglary in the third degree and faking his transcript, a serious misdemeanor. He has pleaded not guilty.

Shah had a brush with the law earlier in his stint at ISU. In April of 1998, he was charged with first-degree harassment for allegedly threatening to rape and kill a female ISU student.

He received probation for the offense.