Back in January, a 29-year-old Rutgers graduate was arrested after posing as a teenager and attending classes at New Brunswick High School in New Jersey. When she appeared in court on Monday, she confessed her reason for the ruse.
29-year-old Rutgers grad poses as a teen and attends New Jersey high school
Hyejeong Shin, a 29-year-old woman, was arrested in January for allegedly posing as a high school student and attending classes at New Brunswick high school in New Jersey.
Allegedly, Shin submitted a fake birth certificate to school officials indicating she was 15 years old, KCRA reported.
Authorities learned Shin graduated from Rutgers University in 2019, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in political science with a minor in Chinese, according to Rutgers University spokesperson Dory Devlin, Yahoo News reported.
She was identified as a Fall 2017 Learning Community Scholar at the Institute for Research on Women (IRW), School of the Arts and Sciences on the Rutgers website. Her focus that year was “Feminism and Resistance: Politics, Peril, Power.”
In January, Shin was charged with one count of providing a false government document with the intent to verify one’s identity or age, the New Brunswick Police Department stated in a news release on Wednesday. The charge is a third-degree offense, according to police.
Attorneys tells court why woman posed as a teenager
Hyejeong Shin appeared in court for the second time on Monday, where she pleaded not guilty to charges of presenting a false birth certificate, which carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, Yahoo News reported.
During the trial, one of Shin’s attorneys, Darren Gelber, admitted the situation was “bizarre,” acknowledging that “it may be difficult for people to understand.”
Gelber explained that Shin had moved to the U.S. from South Korea at age 16 to attend a private boarding school. However, after going through a recent divorce, Shin felt lonely and longed to replicate her childhood experience at the boarding school.
“At no time was anyone or any student in danger and this entire case is more about my client wanting to return to a place of safety and welcoming and an environment that she looks back on fondly,” Gelber later told ABC 7.
Attorneys for Shin argued she had no intention of causing harm to students, faculty, or staff.
The New Brunswick Police also released a statement saying that their investigation did not uncover any evidence of any ill intent behind Shin’s enrollment in the school.
After Shin was banned from entering the school grounds, she continued to text students and even requested to meet them outside of school.
Shin’s next hearing is scheduled for May 15. Following the resolution of her case, she plans to return to South Korea.
