Posted on 05/17/2014 3:07:52 PM PDT by nickcarraway
They say life imitates art, but sometimes life imitates a Law and Order: SVU episode.
Such is the curious case of Charity Anne Johnson, a 34-year-old Texas woman who we can only assume didn't hate high school enough the first time around. Johnson was arrested on Sunday in the East Texas town of Longview after a few strange facts came to light, mainly that she was allegedly a 34-year-old grown woman pretending to be a 15-year-old high school sophomore. (The Associated Press states that police say Johnson is 34, although jail records list her as 31.)
According to KLTV, Johnson had been attending New Life Christian School as a 10th grader since October 2013. Using the name "Charite Stevens," Johnson was reportedly able to enroll despite a lack of transcripts by telling school administrators that she was previously home-schooled. If the B-roll on the KLTV video is any indication, Charite was really crushing sophomore year, too, earning 100 percent on a literature test.
In March, she was taken in by Tamica Lincoln after telling Lincoln that she was abused by her biological father and in need of stable housing. During their time together, Lincoln says she went so far as to attend teachers meetings on behalf of Johnson, as well as buy her clothes and shoes.
It was while living with Lincoln, and being mentored by Ray Ward, that questions about Johnson's real age were raised. The pair took their concerns to authorities, who arrested Johnson at an area apartment after she allegedly gave them a false name.
As news of Johnson's arrest spread, KLTV reports that reaction at the school was shock, with both teachers and students breaking down in tears. Johnson is currently being held in the Gregg County Jail on a $500 bond for failure to identify/ giving false information.
If you can't possibly wait to see what happens in this case, there really is an SVU episode that deals with this exact story line. Instead of a 34-year-old, the woman is 28 and she ends up getting hit by a car and having her jaw wired shut. So, there you have it.
Her 26 year old boyfriend is upset she not really 15?
smh
Geri Blank.
If she had already completed high school and wanted the experience of being a student again, why not attend a community college?
The teachers in that school are not all that bright.
Why is what she did a crime?
Same concern here.
Another link ... http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/officials-woman-34-enrolled-in-school-as-teen?ocid=ansnews11
Because they genuinely liked her? Or because they've been fooled?
The story is not that well written. Nowhere does it state or speculate her motives for wanting to pull off this deception.
To me, I can easily see she is an adult, especially in that jailbird photo, showing her with a dark splotch on her forehead, perhaps due to poor hygiene in jail. No cocoa butter beauty treatments. There are some folks who maintain a very low profile, they don’t stick out, some would say they are “non-descript” or inconspicuous. The other students likely took her to be just another chubby black girl who kept to herself. The sort of face you see everyday in that school.
Maybe she never finished school and wanted to experience. Or maybe she is a very dedicated Cougar on the make for a young boyfriend. I’ve heard of a 30 year old lesbian pretending to be a 16 y/o boy for two school years, and even having had girlfriends.
Am I missing something? We had a middle aged woman in our high school taking classes back in the 1960s.
Just exactly what crime did this girl do? Sounds like she was a good student.
Strange case and sounds like this is not the first time this person has done this ... http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/31-year-old-sophomore-arrested-after-attending-5480882.php
If her IQ is obvious by her eyes, I’d say she should probably in third grade.
Not sure of the crime but she sure hasn’t been honest.
Something about this story makes me think she was in hiding or had to dramatically reinvent herself, thus her being able to fool so many people that she was a ‘good girl’. Otherwise, the payoff seems rather minor.
Was she just pretending, or just hadn’t graduated yet…?
Fraud.....she fraudulently took food and clothing and sustenance while pretending to be something she wasn’t
Looks like she got to close to Bammy when he was golfing.
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