LONGVIEW, Tex. — A 34-year-old Texas woman has pleaded guilty to posing as a 15-year-old high school student for months.
Charity Anne Johnson was released from jail Tuesday after pleading guilty to failure to identify/giving false, fictitious information.
Johnson, who posed as a sophomore at New Life Christian School in Longview, was enrolled under the alias of “Charity Stevens” before authorities found out she had provided a fake name and birthday, KLTV reports.
A photo of Charity from her Facebook page where she was listed under her alias “Charite” (SOURCE: Facebook via KLTV)
The woman had been attending the school since October 2013, but school staffers only realized that her identification was fake in May.
Tamica Lincoln said last month that she has been acting as Johnson’s parental guardian since March of 2013 when she claimed to be an abused 15-year-old who “needed a place to crash.”
School officials said a person claiming to be Johnson’s guardian walked in and helped the woman enroll for school with a birth date that indicated she was 15.
Lincoln admitted that she enrolled Johnson in school in October and even met with her teachers, which unknowingly give more credence to Johnson’s bizarre scheme.
“I just don’t know why she did it. Why put yourself and others at risk to do something like this?” Lincoln told KLTV. “I have deep concerns about her being who we don’t know she is, and then she’s out there at the school.”
However, once Lincoln learned Charity was accused of using a fake identity, she called police and headed to the school.
“Teachers were crying and students were crying, and her best friend just couldn’t believe it,” Lincoln said.
Johnson, who has served nearly a month in jail, was sentenced to 85 days in jail and must pay a $277 fine.
