Topic: Woman, 31, posed as high schooler for 7mths Posted: May 15 2014 at 7:19pm
Woman, 31, Accused of Posing as High School Student for 7 Months
By RHEANA MURRAY
3 hours ago
.
View photo
Woman, 31, Accused of Posing as High School Student for 7 Months (ABC News)
A 31-year-old Texas woman pretended to be a high school
sophomore for nearly an entire school year, fooling teachers, classmates
and even the woman who took her in, school officials said.
“Everyone we talked to assumed she was a teenager
like she said she was, because she looked like one,” Stuart Newlin,
principal of New Life Christian School in Longview, Texas, told ABC
News.
“She had friends," he said. "Everybody liked her.”
It’s
not clear why Charity Anne Johnson, who was arrested this week,
allegedly enrolled at the school in October as 15-year-old Charity
Stevens.
“That’s the mystery. We have no clue,” Newlin said.
Johnson had no transcripts but said she had been home schooled, he added.
“She
came in with a guardian; there was no reason to be suspicious,” Newlin
said. “Usually, parents come in, they fill out the paperwork and we take
their word for it. If they come from another school, you transfer
records. If they come from home school, they don’t have those records.”
Tamica Lincoln, the woman whom Johnson had been living with, was dumbfounded.
“She acted like a kid. She did her homework. She got good report cards,” Lincoln, 30, told ABC News.
Johnson
even kept up a presence on social media. She posed for selfies and
posted snapshots of friendship bracelets and Hello Kitty on Instagram
and Twitter -- all things that wouldn’t be out of place on a high school
student’s account.
Lincoln had been Johnson’s caregiver since
March, after meeting the woman at McDonald’s, where they both worked.
She said Johnson told her she needed a place to stay after her parents
died and her sister was kicked out of her apartment.
“I allowed
her to come into my house," Lincoln said. "I was just trying to be nice
and kindhearted and get her out of the situation she was in.”
She
discovered Johnson might be lying about her age after getting a phone
call from a woman who ran a group for needy children that Johnson tried
to join. The woman had run a background check, Lincoln said.
“I started looking into it. I contacted the manager that works at that McDonald’s,” Lincoln said.
The manager pulled Johnson's paperwork and told Lincoln the woman was older than she claimed, Lincoln said.
Lincoln has since talked to several people who had similar stories about Johnson, she said.
Johnson was arrested late Monday after Lincoln called the police.
She lied about her name and was charged with failure to show identification, police said.
Johnson is behind bars at Gregg County Jail on a $500 bond.
ETA : Boyfriends story:
Boyfriend' of Accused 34-Year-Old High School Sophomore: ‘I Was Shocked’
By RHEANA MURRAY
2 hours ago
.
View photo
'Boyfriend' of Accused 34-Year-Old High School Sophomore: ‘I Was Shocked’ (ABC News)
The 34-year-old from Texas accused of enrolling as a high
school sophomore even fooled a man who said he was her boyfriend into
thinking she was an innocent teenager, the man said.
Rickie Williams told KLTV,
the ABC News affiliate in East Texas, that he had been dating Charity
Anne Johnson since last summer. The 23-year-old said he learned of her
arrest on Thursday.
“My best friend showed me and I was shocked,” he told the station.
Williams
said Johnson, accused of posing as a 15-year-old sophomore at New Life
Christian School in Longview, Texas, told him she was 18 years old.
New
details continued to emerge days after Johnson, who allegedly enrolled
at the high school in October using the name Charity Stevens, was
arrested after allegedly giving Longview Police a fake name and age.
Osarieme
Obaseki, who runs What About Us, a non-profit group for women and girls
in need, told ABC News Johnson first called her last month, claiming to
be a 14-year-old who needed help. The pair began talking on the phone
and Obaseki, who lives in Dallas, gave Johnson advice and became a
motherly figure during their conversations, she said.
Obaseki, 40, said she never spoke to Tamica Lincoln, who was Johnson’s guardian in Longview at the time.
“Soon, I began to be called, ‘Mom,’” Obaseki said. “I would hear her say little things like, ‘What if I popped up in Dallas?’”
That’s exactly what happened, Obaseki said.
Johnson
took a train to Dallas to visit Obaseki for Mother’s Day, even bringing
her a homemade, construction paper card, Obaseki said. Over the
weekend, Obaseki became suspicious.
“I can’t really explain it,
but I listened to her and knew something wasn't right. Her stories were
changing,” Obaseki said. “When my sister saw her, she said, ‘That is not
a child, look at her body!'”
Obaseki said she suspected there were other people Johnson called “Mom.”
“It’s
just been a lot of lies and cover-up,” she said. "Nobody I spoke to has
said it’s ever been a financial situation. She had money! It’s not
that, at all."
Obaseki contacted Lincoln and the pair determined
Johnson was lying about her age after calling McDonald’s, where Johnson
worked, she said.
“The manager verified she had two applications
on file," Obaseki said. "One birthday was 1982, the other was 1979.
Either way, it proved she’s too old to be in high school.”
Johnson’s real birthday was November 1979, police said.
ABC
News could not reach Johnson or any of her family members for comment.
Police said she was being held on $500 bond at Gregg County Jail,
accused of failure to ID herself and giving false and fictitious
information, and had not yet had a lawyer appointed to represent her.
In the meantime, other people who knew Johnson have been coming forward.
"We
have all wondered about her because she's always quiet and to herself,
you know," Roshunda Floyd, who works at the Walmart in Longview, told
KLTV.
Johnson worked at the McDonald's inside the Walmart.
Obaseki
was eager to warn people about the woman she believed had lied about
her age, on the possibility there might be prior cases.
“I want people to be aware of what she has done,” she said. "This goes farther than Longview and Dallas."
Obaseki added that there’s one moment from Johnson’s visit she can’t forget.
“The
irony of it is that she writes," Obaseki said, "and she would say,
‘Momma, I’m going to be famous one day.’ And well, you’re famous! She’s
famous!”
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