A WOMAN who pretended to be a teenager and enrolled to be a student at a high school has been arrested and is facing charges.
Martha Jessenia Gutierrez-Serrano, 28, lied about being a 17-year-old girl to enroll into Hahnville High School in Boutte, Louisiana, per investigators.
Gutierrez-Serrano and her 46-year-old mother were arrested on fraud charges Tuesday, according to officials, per Yahoo News.
They were both charged with one count of injury to public records.
The law covers the altercation or falsification of public records.
The two could possibly face thousands of dollars in fines if found guilty.
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“On Monday, May 29, ... detectives were notified by officials with the St. Charles Parish Public Schools of a possible adult attending Hahnville High School in Boutte, LA during the 2022-2023 school year,” officials said.
“School administration received a tip that a female student, who was on record as being 17 years old, was in fact an adult possibly in her mid 20’s.
"School Administration began an internal investigation and later notified the sheriff’s office of their findings.”
Gutierrez-Serrano and her mother used a fraudulent passport and birth certificate to qualify as a student and enroll in the school, per officials.
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Hahnville High School, located about 25 miles west of New Orleans, is now reevaluating this process to make sure the occurrence does not happen again.
“As a result of this discovery, St. Charles Parish Public Schools is conducting an audit of enrollment documents for students currently enrolled in St. Charles Parish Public Schools, is reviewing student enrollment policy and procedures, and will make enhancements based upon that review,” the school district said in a news release.
“Moving forward, the school system will provide additional required training for school and district level employees focused on recognizing the signs of potentially fraudulent documents.”
It is currently unclear what grade level the woman was enrolled in and what her reasoning was for wanting to go back to high school.
