29-year-old woman arrested after attending high school as a freshman, suspected of luring teens for trafficking

A woman named Hyejeong Shin, 29, was able to attend a New Jersey high school for four days after submitting a fake birth certificate to the New Brunswick, N.J., board of education, according to Timcast.

Shin, who faces a third-degree charge for providing a false government document with intent to verify age or identity, was admitted immediately to the high school due to state laws.

“Pursuant to New Jersey statutes (18a:36-25.1) and guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education, schools are required to immediately enroll unaccompanied children, even in the absence of records normally required for enrollment,” read a statement from New Brunswick Police.

“Proof of guardianship is not necessary to immediately enroll an unaccompanied child or youth,” the statement continued.

The 29-year-old presented herself as a freshman while attending classes for four days before a teacher was suspicious of the woman. The superintendent then became aware of her age at a school board meeting and immediately expelled the woman and prohibited her from entering school property.

"She was pretending to be a freshman, which is more surprising because I don't believe she looks like a freshman," a New Brunswick High School student told CBS News, with another student telling the station the accused had texted several of her classmates to ask them to "hang out."

"Some of the girls I know, the girl did ask them to hang out at Commercial Avenue, but they never showed up, and she started acting weird with them," the student added.

Commercial Avenue is where multiple witnesses allege Shin was trying to lure students, with the possibility that she may have tried to traffic them.

“I think she was really trying to traffic young women which is [why] anybody who hears about this needs to be aware of your surroundings," said Abrianna Martin, a senior at the school of 2,000 students.

"I heard she was still trying to contact some of the young girls here even after we found out," she told NBCDFW.

Another man named Michael Castro, who attended the board of education meeting, told New Brunswick Today that he was told the woman’s intentions "were to lure kids to a specific street in New Brunswick and possibly traffic them."

The superintendent says that school administrators will review their enrollment process to better identify falsified documents in the future.

A police investigation is underway.