A 28-year-old woman was arrested after enrolling at a Bronx high school under a false identity, claiming to be a 16-year-old named Shamara Rashad, according to court records and police officials.
Kacy Claassen walked into Westchester Square Academy on April 13 and registered for classes using the fake name and a fabricated birth date placed in 2010. She told school administrators she had recently relocated from Ohio. The deception unraveled days later when the school director discovered her real identity through social media and confronted her about it.
Claassen confessed at that point, telling investigators that a friend pressured her into the scheme so she could qualify for additional public assistance benefits. Police took her into custody at the school.
She appeared in Bronx court on April 28, one day after her arrest, and pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal impersonation in the second degree and trespassing. A judge released her without bail pending trial, with her next scheduled court appearance set for June 15.
The New York City Department of Education called the breach a serious matter. A spokesperson stated that enrollment fraud "fundamentally undermines" the district's values and emphasized that police are actively investigating and will pursue appropriate legal action.
Claassen's case joins a pattern of similar schemes that have surfaced across the country in recent years. In January 2023, a 29-year-old woman named Hyejeong Shin was arrested in New Jersey after she used a fraudulent birth certificate to enroll at New Brunswick High School. Shin was placed in a three-year pre-trial program and ordered to undergo mental health evaluation and pay fines.
More notably, a man in his mid-20s infiltrated Dallas's Hillcrest High School under an assumed name in 2019 and became the school's star basketball player. That defendant, Sidney Gilstrap-Portley, pleaded guilty to records tampering and indecency with an underage girl. He received six years of probation.
The cases echo the plot devices of films like "Never Been Kissed" and "Hiding Out," where adult characters embed themselves in high school environments, though the real-world versions have carried criminal consequences and accusations far darker than Hollywood comedies.
Author James Rodriguez: "These cases show how important basic identity verification is, and how quickly a lie falls apart when schools do their job properly."
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