Woman, 29, arrested after enrolling at N.J. high school, attending for 4 days, police say

By Brendan Rascius, The Charlotte Observer (TNS)

A 29-year-old woman was arrested after police said she posed as a teenager and attended a New Jersey high school, according to local news outlets.

The woman, a resident of New Brunswick, is said to have given a fake birth certificate to the New Brunswick Board of Education “with the intent to enroll as a juvenile high-school student,” according to a Jan. 25 police news release.

An attorney for the woman could not immediately be reached for comment by McClatchy News.

After gaining admittance, the woman attended New Brunswick High School for four days before anyone noticed something was awry, according to 6ABC News.

She was arrested Tuesday, Jan. 24, according to CBS News.

“Last week supposedly the administrators let in a 29-year-old,” a student told 6ABC. “So basically everybody was scared. Some people gave their personal information to that lady.”

State statutes direct schools to enroll unaccompanied children lacking proper documentation, though school districts can request documents to verify a child’s age, police said.

“A school district may not prevent or discourage a child, including an unaccompanied child, from enrolling in or attending school because he or she lacks a birth certificate or has records that indicate a foreign place of birth, such as a foreign birth certificate,” police said.

The New Brunswick Public Schools superintendent said the incident was “bothersome,” adding that she would closely examine the district’s enrollment process, according to News12.

The woman was charged with one count of providing a false government document, a third-degree offense, police said.

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