Hyejeong Shin, a 29-year-old Rutgers College graduate, has been accused of falsifying her delivery certificates to enroll in a New Jersey highschool.
Shin has been dwelling in the USA for 13 years, aside from her household in South Korea, and at first, the mother and father of college youngsters assumed the worst when she was realized to be an grownup reasonably than a 16-year-old. However her legal professional is arguing her reasoning was extra unhappy than sinister.
Hyejeong Shin pretended to be a highschool pupil as a result of it was a spot of ‘security.’
Shin attended lessons for 4 days at New Brunswick Excessive College earlier than directors realized the reality about her age. Earlier than they caught her this January, she had exchanged numbers with a number of college students and even had requested to spend time with them exterior of college.
“A number of the women I do know, the woman did ask them to hang around at Business Avenue, however they by no means confirmed up, and she or he began performing bizarre with them,” one pupil mentioned in an interview with CBS Information. “It’s scary since you by no means know what might occur.”
“It was very unsafe for the college and a lot of the college students in there,” one other pupil added.
After she was caught, directors circulated her image all through the college. Some had been stunned she was impersonating a freshman pupil as a result of she didn’t look the half.
“She was pretending to be a freshman, which is extra shocking as a result of I don’t imagine she seems to be like a freshman,” one other pupil mentioned.
However her family-appointed New York legal professional Darren Gelber paints a distinct story of her intentions.
“At no time was anybody or any pupil in peril, and this whole case is extra about my shopper eager to return to a spot of security and welcoming and an atmosphere that she seems to be again on fondly and nothing extra,” Gelber mentioned.
New Brunswick police seconded that viewpoint stating they don’t imagine she had any purpose to harm college students or school when enrolling in the highschool.
Shin got here from South Korea to the USA alone when she was simply 16 years outdated.
She attended a non-public boarding college in Massachusetts earlier than enrolling at Rutgers College, majoring in political science with a minor in Chinese language. She was even named a studying neighborhood scholar in 2017.
She practiced meditation, liked singing, and was finding out for a grasp’s diploma earlier than her life began to collapse. Courtroom paperwork mentioned that she bought a divorce and fell $20,000 behind on her lease earlier than taking the odd leap to turn out to be a highschool pupil once more.
“I’m no psychologist, however separated from her household and being in a distinct nation — in addition to a few different stressors in her life — might have brought about her to behave very uncharacteristically,” Gerber instructed the New York Instances.
He describes her actions as a method to realize friendships just like these she had at her outdated boarding college over a decade in the past. However her resolution got here with heavy penalties. A grand jury indicted her for offering a “false authorities doc and hindering her personal prosecution,” based on the New York Submit. On Monday, she pled not responsible to the costs.
If convicted, she faces a most sentence of 5 years in jail.
Her legal professional mentioned Shin is making an attempt to get accepted right into a pre-trial intervention program in order that she will keep away from doable jail time if discovered responsible. Along with that, she plans to return to South Korea.
However for now, she’ll have to attend for her subsequent courtroom date, which remains to be pending.
The college superintendent says they’ll evaluation their enrollment course of to determine false documentation higher.
Ethan Cotler is a author dwelling in Boston. He writes on leisure and information.
