Police arrest 28-year-old immigrant who allegedly posed as teenager to attend high school for entire year

Police arrested a 28-year-old immigrant they claim fraudulently attended a Louisiana high school.

Last month, school administrators at Hahnville High School received a tip that a woman in her mid-20s was attending the school by posing as a 17-year-old teenager. The school began an investigation and notified the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office on May 29.

The investigation led police to arrest 28-year-old Martha Jessenia Gutierrez-Serrano and her mother, 46-year-old Marta Elizeth Serrano-Alvarado. Police allege Serrano-Alvarado successfully enrolled her adult daughter in the school "using a fraudulent passport and birth certificate" from Honduras.

While it's not clear how school officials were tipped off, police said that Gutierrez-Serrano attended Hahnville High School as a freshman for the entirety of the 2022-2023 school year.

"Gutierrez-Serrano was not involved in any extracurricular activities, and we are not aware of any disciplinary issues while attending school. She utilized school transportation to and from school. There is no current evidence of any other criminal activity or inappropriate conduct by either Serrano-Alvarado or Gutierrez-Serrano," police explained in a statement.

At a news conference on Wednesday, St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne revealed Gutierrez-Serrano attended the school because she "wanted to learn English. She wanted to become proficient in the English language."

"There was no nefarious reason behind this," he explained.

Regarding the immigration status of the women, Champagne explained at the press conference that Serrano-Alvarado was living in the U.S. on an expired visa, while Gutierrez-Serrano entered the U.S. through New Mexico in 2021. She was released by immigration authorities after processing, which is routine procedure for immigrants who claim asylum.

Champagne said he saw the photo that immigration authorities snapped of Gutierrez-Serrano before releasing her, observing that she could "very easily be taken for a young teenager — without a doubt."

"It's not the crime of the century," he said. "We're not here to bang on these people. The purpose of getting an education, learning English, is something we want everybody to do. But you can't defraud the government, and you can't enroll in a school if you're 10 years over the age that is allowed."

Police charged both women with one count of injuring public records. They were released from jail on bond.

28-year-old posing as teen to attend Hahnville High, just wanted to learn English: Sheriffwww.youtube.com

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