The woman wanted on charges she posed as a student at three different high schools in Boston turned herself in at a court on Monday, where her lawyer said she has a history of mental illness.
Shelby Hewitt didn't speak as she faced charges including identity fraud and forgery at Boston Municipal Court, nor did the 32-year-old answer questions about the allegations — the former Massachusetts Department of Children and Families worker is accused of faking paperwork and passing herself off as a teenager to attend three Boston Public High Schools – Jeremiah Burke, Brighton and English.
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Hewitt was held on $5,000 bond, which she posted. A judge gave her conditions, including keeping away from all schools, not contacting Boston Public School employees and having no contact with children who aren't immediate family members.
It was her first time in court over the alleged fraud, which was unveiled June 14, when a man came to English High School, claiming he was withdrawing his daughter over bullying, and the school discovered an error in her paperwork and notified police. Hewitt fidgeted with her hands during parts of the proceeding and at once point appeared to cry.
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An arrest warrant was issued for Hewitt on June 27. Her lawyer explained that Hewitt was in residential treatment before turning herself in on Monday.
"This is a young lady that has severe mental health challenges and she has been dealing with it on a life-long basis, it is well documented and she is continuing to deal with it," said her lawyer, Timothy Flaherty.
A school staffer called 911 after a man claiming to be Hewitt's father — she was going by a different name — tried to remove her from school over bullying, though she'd only been enrolled the week before and staff was working to address the apparent bullying, authorities have said. Worried about a possible custodial issue with her parents, school officials reached out to the district for her paperwork and discovered an error with one of her enrollment forms, which led to a call to a social worker listed on a document who didn't exist.
The next day, state and local police on human trafficking teams conducted a search at an apartment in Jamaica Plain, court documents said. The search uncovered documents from her bedroom at the apartment that had been submitted to juvenile court and the Department of Children and Families, which were allegedly used to enroll Hewitt into Boston Public Schools as two different people.
Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper has called the incident "a case of extremely sophisticated fraud," and a prosecutor argued Monday that Hewitt should be held on $10,000 bond in part because of "the allegations of the various aliases used, the allegations of Ms. Hewitt attending three separate schools under three separate aliases — two of which are true people who did not give permission to use their name in attending these schools."
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In court on Monday, the judge asked both the prosecution and defense what was really going on in the case — the prosecutor with the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said the investigation was ongoing, while Flaherty said the investigation would not reveal human trafficking or solicitation.
"I can tell the court that there was nothing sinister that was going on here ... nothing more sinister than a young lady being somewhere that she shouldn't have been," he said.
No charges have been brought against Hewitt alleging she harmed any students, though she faces up to 10 years in prison if she's convicted of the charges that have been brought against her, prosecutors noted in court.
But the revelation of an apparent imposter student at Boston high schools has shocked the community.
Asked about the case on Sunday's edition of "@Issue," Mayor Michelle Wu called the system allegedly used to get Hewitt into the school system "unusually complex and intensive" and noted that Hewitt, with her background as a social worker, would have known how the system works.
"I'm very glad that we saw the situation," Wu said, after noting that Boston Public Schools staff acted as soon as they spotted a red flag. "It's certainly disturbing."
