Woman, 29, is charged with posing as a kid to attend high school

An adult woman has been accused of impersonating a minor and fraudulently enrolling as a student in a high school.

Hyejeong Shin, 29, was arrested last week after attending classes at New Brunswick High School for four days before her true age was discovered, officials said at a school board meeting on Tuesday.

The purpose of the alleged deception remains unclear, but students at the school expressed shock and fear upon learning the truth about their new classmate.

Some of the students even told they got text messages from the woman asking to hang out, making them fear she had ill designs.

‘Some of the girls I know, the girl did ask them to hang out at Commercial Avenue, but they never showed up, and she started acting weird with them,’ one student said. ‘It’s scary because you never know what could happen.’

New Brunswick Public School District Superintendent Aubrey Johnson said at a school board meeting that Shin attended several class for four days before the scheme unraveled. 

‘By filing false documents, an adult female posing as a student was able to be enrolled in our high school,’ Johnson said at the meeting, according to a video posted by .

Shin was charged with one count of providing a false government document with the intent to verify one’s identity or age, after police said she provided a false birth certificate, according to . 

But much about the case remains unclear, including the date of Shin’s arrest and her current custody status. 

An official at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center told DailyMail.com that Shin was not in custody as of Wednesday evening. The New Brunswick Police Department did not immediately respond to phone and email messages.

Superintendent Johnson said that much of the woman’s time during the four days she was enrolled was spent with guidance counselors, who were attempting to learn more about her background and needs.

But he added that she had attended at least three classes, and several students spoke out about interactions they’d had with Shin during her fraudulent enrollment. 

‘I was in class with this woman, and talked to her, walked her from point A to point B, and never expected this to happen,’ one student, Tatianna, told New Brunswick Today.

‘Not knowing she was a 29-year-old woman makes me question how safe I am in this building,’ the student added, saying she had given her phone number to Shin and now feels ‘taken advantage of.’

Shin reportedly told school officials that she was 15, but raised suspicion when she was unclear about the identity of her her legal guardians.  

The scheme is said to have unraveled when Shin tried to sign herself out for the day, but was prevented from doing so as a minor. Frustrated, Shin allegedly revealed that she is actually 29.

If she needed to complete a GED, the adult equivalent of a high school diploma, Shin could have legally enrolled in New Brunswick’s Adult Learning Center, the local news outlet noted. 

Shin’s current custody status is unclear, and it was not immediately clear whether she had an attorney to speak on her behalf. 

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