HAHNVILLE, L. a.. (AP) — A 28-year-old lady who enrolled at a Louisiana highschool and posed as a 17-year-old scholar to be informed English has been arrested along side her mom, government mentioned Wednesday.
Martha Jessenia Gutierrez Serrano and her mom, Marta Elizabeth Serrano Alvarado, 46, either one of Bhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1BF27G-PQYoutte, have been arrested Tuesday, the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Place of job mentioned in a information unlock. Each and every are charged with a one rely of hurting public information.
Serrano Alvarado used a faux passport and beginning certificates from Honduras to sign up and join her daughter at Hahnville Prime Faculty for the 2022-2023 faculty yr, the sheriff’s place of job mentioned.
Sheriff Greg Champagne, at a information convention Wednesday, mentioned Gutierrez Serrano informed investigators she enrolled at school to be informed the English language.
“She sought after to be informed English. She sought after to grow to be gifted within the English language,” Champagne mentioned.
“There used to be no nefarious reason why in the back of this,” he mentioned, including that the falsifying of presidency paperwork to do that used to be simply “dangerous judgment.”
Champagne famous there have been different avenues the ladies can have taken, together with enrolling in ESL or GED techniques. “Indisputably that may be a a lot better choice than falsifying information,” he mentioned.
The sheriff mentioned Gutierrez Serrano didn’t take part in any extracurricular actions and had no disciplinary problems whilst attending faculty.
“There’s no present proof of another illegal activity or irrelevant behavior” through both lady, he mentioned.
4 days after the college yr ended on Might 25, an inner investigation started after the St. Charles Parish Faculty Machine won a tip {that a} feminine scholar at Hahnville Prime Faculty believed to be 17 would possibly in truth were in her mid-20s, the sheriff’s place of job mentioned.
It used to be unknown if both lady has an legal professional who may just remark at the arrests.
“The college gadget will support processes to resolve the authenticity of enrollment paperwork for present and long term scholars in addition to regulate coverage and procedures as warranted,” the college gadget mentioned in a remark overdue Tuesday, The Instances-Picayune/The New Orleans Suggest reported. “As that is an ongoing investigation carried out through the Sheriff’s Place of job, no additional knowledge or specifics could also be shared at the moment.”
This isn’t the primary time this yr that an grownup has been accused of posing as a U.S. highschool scholar. In January, a 29-year-old lady used to be charged with the usage of false paperwork to join a New Jersey highschool and attend categories over a four-day duration. A pass judgement on in Might allowed her to go into a pretrial intervention program.