"Lonely"... Korean American Woman in the US Who Lied About Age from 29 to 15 to Enter High School

Korean Woman Arrested for Document Forgery
Lawyer Says "No Criminal Intent"

A 29-year-old Korean woman in New Jersey, USA, who forged documents to enter high school and pretended to be a female high school student, repeatedly emphasized that she committed this act out of loneliness.

On the 15th (local time), the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the case of Shin, a 29-year-old Korean woman caught pretending to be a female high school student at a high school in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

A Korean woman, Shin Mo, who lied about her age to enter high school and was arrested. [Image source=CBS News]

Earlier, Shin submitted a fake birth certificate to New Brunswick High School in January, falsely claiming to be 15 years old and enrolled. She then attended the high school for four days, attending classes and socializing with students.

The reason Shin was able to pose as a student was due to New Jersey state law. In New Jersey, students can be admitted immediately even if enrollment documents are not prepared. They only need to submit the relevant documents within 30 days after enrollment.

Later, during the process of submitting documents for accurate identity verification, Shin’s document forgery was discovered. As a result, the police arrested Shin on charges of forgery of official documents.

Following a trial held in March, Shin’s lawyer stated again at this trial that she committed the act out of loneliness and is currently remorseful.

Some students claimed that Shin enrolled in high school with the intent to lure teenage girls into illegal prostitution, but Shin’s lawyer said, "It was merely an act to regain the sense of stability she had during her high school years, with no criminal intent."

Shin’s lawyer appealed that she is currently suffering from mental distress and emphasized that she wishes to participate in the 'Pretrial Intervention Program (PTI),' a kind of mediation process that can help avoid a criminal conviction. According to SCMP, if the court accepts and approves this, her charges may be dismissed.

Meanwhile, Shin first came to the United States at age 16 to enroll in a boarding school in Massachusetts. She later earned degrees in Political Science and Chinese Language and Literature from Rutgers University, a state university in New Jersey. She also pursued a master’s degree but reportedly had not found employment.

Currently, the United States imposes up to five years imprisonment for forgery of official documents, and Shin is said to have expressed her desire to return to Korea once the trial concludes.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.