At English High School, she was called Ellie. At Jeremiah E. Burke High School, she called herself Daniella.
But authorities now learned that Ellie and Daniella were actually the aliases of Shelby Hewitt, a 32-year-old former state social worker who posed as high school students at three Boston public schools. She gossiped with the teens there during lunch and complained about her homework.
She was charged Tuesday in Boston Municipal Court in the West Roxbury District with three counts of document forgery, two counts of false writing and one count of identity fraud, records show.
Hewitt, who forged documents and enrolled under different names at English High School, Jeremiah E. Burke High School and Brighton High School during the 2022-2023 school year, had not been arrested as of Thursday, Boston police said. do not have. He answers questions about the case.
Hewitt worked intermittently as a social worker for the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families from 2016 to February 2023, according to the agency. The department did not say why Hewitt lost her job. She could not be reached for comment Thursday, and it is unclear whether she has an attorney.
Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper told parents about the identity theft incident in a June 20 memo, saying Hewitt had been ordered to stay away from Boston Public Schools facilities.
“While the investigation is in its early stages and ongoing, school officials have not identified any incidents that harmed students or staff,” Ms. Skipper wrote. “At this time, families of students who may have come into contact with this individual are being contacted directly by school staff and investigators.”
Skipper later said in a statement that she was “deeply troubled” by the situation, calling it “an extremely sophisticated scam.”
The incident troubled parents in the district and confused students who came to know Hewitt under different names and backgrounds. It is unclear what motivated Hewitt to break into multiple schools.
Janelle Rammons, 15, said in an interview that she met Hewitt at Jeremiah E. Burke High School last September and they had lunch together in the library. Hewitt, who claimed she was 16, told Janelle that her name was Daniela, that she was from Colombia, and that she was in her foster care home.
Janelle said Hewitt seemed somewhat normal when talking about teachers and homework, but she still noticed strange behavior. Hewitt once packed clothes into garbage bags and brought them to school, claiming they were going to a new children’s home. Janelle said Hewitt, who was told by her teacher to focus on class and work, sometimes became “very emotional.”
“She would sometimes sneak out of class and walk around the hallways,” Janelle said, adding that she sometimes saw Hewitt crying at school.
School administrators scrutinized her enrollment documents after a man pretending to be her father told her he was expelling her because of bullying, according to a police report.
They discovered that one of the registration forms inaccurately listed the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families as “Department of Children and Families” and included other errors. So they started calling and asking the social worker listed on the form.
According to the police report, the school was informed by the department that no one by that name was working, prompting school officials to call police.
Authorities executed a search warrant at Hewitt’s apartment on June 15 and discovered forged documents, according to a police report.
Mayor Michelle Wu told WBUR’s Radio Boston that the incident was “very concerning.”
“If someone told me that an adult was returning to school after decades away from this kind of age-appropriate environment, that would be concerning,” Wu said.
This is not the first time Hewitt has been charged with impersonating a teenager. In March, authorities said a 29-year-old woman was posing as a teenager at a New Brunswick high school in New Jersey, and the case drew the attention of millions online. In the early 2000s, Frédéric Bourdin allegedly impersonated children from youth shelters, middle schools, and orphanages across Europe, The New Yorker reported.
Kirsten Noyes contributed to research.