He is accused of falsely claiming to Harvard that he had attended the exclusive Phillips Academy preparatory school in Andover and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and that he was a straight-A student.
Prosecutors claim he essentially stole $45,000 (£30,000) in financial aid, scholarship money and academic awards from Harvard.
In court documents prosecutors said a Harvard detective spoke with Richard Shaw, dean of undergraduate admissions at Stanford, who said Stanford accepted Wheeler as a transfer student for 2010-2011. It has since rescinded his admission.
Wheeler actually graduated from Caesar Rodney High School, a public school in 2005. He attended Bowdoin College in Maine from 2005 to 2007, but was suspended for academic dishonesty, according to court records.
He was removed from Harvard after he tried to get the institution to endorse him for Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships. A professor reviewing his applications found evidence he had plagiarised from another professor.
Prosecutors said that after being was dismissed from Harvard, Wheeler also tried unsuccessfully to transfer to Yale and Brown universities.