
Charity Stevens enrolled as a sophomore at the New Life Christian School in Longview, Texas in October 2013. On Sunday, police arrested the 31-year old woman, whose real name is Charity Johnson.
A spokesperson for the school told a local news station that when Johnson initially enrolled she claimed to be 15 years old, and brought her guardian with her to sign up for class. On Tuesday, staff at the school discovered the identification she gave was fake and that the guardian was also bamboozled by Stevens.
That guardian, Tamica Lincoln, claims to have met Stevens in March 2013 and that Stevens presented herself as a 15-year old victim of child abuse whose parents had died. “I sympathized with her, and invited her into my home. I took her in as a child, did her hair, got her clothes and shoes,” Lincoln told KLTV. Lincoln started to suspect Stevens, though, and eventually called the police and went straight to the school.
“Teachers were crying and students were crying, and her best friend just couldn’t believe it,” Lincoln said.
Police arrested Johnson for failure to identify and giving false information after she gave them a fake name and birthday. She remains in the Gregg County Jail on $500 bond.
[Via KLTV]
MORE: Americans Are Really, Really Bad at Answering Questions About Science
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Cybersecurity Experts Are Sounding the Alarm on DOGE
- Meet the 2025 Women of the Year
- The Harsh Truth About Disability Inclusion
- Why Do More Young Adults Have Cancer?
- Colman Domingo Leads With Radical Love
- How to Get Better at Doing Things Alone
- Michelle Zauner Stares Down the Darkness
Contact us at letters@time.com