Takeaways from the latest story on the alleged BPS impostor student

Local News

Shelby Hewitt has pleaded not guilty to several charges of fraud and forgery. Prosecutors say she pretended to be a teenager to enroll in Boston public schools.

Why would Shelby Hewitt, a 32-year-old woman and social worker, allegedly pose as a teenager under false identities at three Boston high schools during the 2022-2023 school year?

This is the question of a new Globe Magazine report, “The Secret Life of 32-Year-Old High School Imposter Shelby Hewitt,” attempts to answer, delving into Hewitt’s history and the timeline of the case, which is expected to go to trial this fall.

Hewitt, a Canton resident, pleaded not guilty in December to three counts of forgery of documents, two counts of common law forgery and one count each of using false or falsified documents , identity fraud, theft over $1,200 and violation of public servant security standards. to drive. Prosecutors allege that at first, Hewitt electronically posed as a Department of Children and Families employee to gain admission as a child patient at the Walden Behavioral Treatment Center, then enrolled in the schools public offices in Boston.

“The defendant created multiple names and dates of birth and propagated a complex – but false – narrative of an extremely traumatized child with significant special educational and emotional needs,” prosecutors said in a statement of facts on the case.

In the fall of 2022, she would have enrolled at the age of 16 at Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester.

According to Worldshe used the name Daniella Blake Herrera.

Prosecutors said she then transferred to Brighton High School and in early June 2023 enrolled at age 13 at Jamaica Plain English High School under a different name.

There she used the name Ellie Blake, according to the World.

Hewitt’s alleged ruse was discovered in June and she was arrested when the man she said was her adoptive father said he was going to transfer her from English High School to a new school due to bullying.

Below, four things we learned about this case from the Globe’s new report.

Hewitt lived a “real life” pretending to be teenagers

Although Hewitt was taking classes and doing homework under her teenage identity, she was working full time for DCF and “living her real life,” according to the World. She was hired as a social worker by the state agency after graduate school and worked there between 2016 and 2018. She returned again in December 2021 and continued – earning her full salary – while attending simultaneously from BPS schools under his false identities and posing. as fake DCF employees representing these teenagers, according to the magazine.

According to Worldhis “real life” consisted of buying a two-bedroom condo – paying cash – in central Massachusetts and staying in touch with friends from Sharon’s college and high school.

But signs of his life elsewhere were present.

A neighbor told World that Hewitt was rarely in her apartment and a friend told the publication that when she met Hewitt for dinner in the winter of 2023, the 32-year-old had braces.

Students say they didn’t want to pressure him over inconsistencies

Jeremiah E. Burke High School students told the World that Hewitt’s story about her family and her living situation as 16-year-old freshman Daniella Blake Herrera was not always consistent.

Janell Lamons, then 15, told the magazine that she approached “Daniella” when the school began introducing herself, asking if it was the new student’s first year at Burke. Hewitt told Lamons she was in foster care, and in the days that followed, she shared more of her life, sometimes saying both of her biological parents were dead or that her father was in prison . Hewitt also reportedly often spoke with her friends about her passion for helping children in foster care, but said her own foster mother didn’t have much money and sometimes ran out of food.

The students did not want to force her to lead a life that seemed to be harder than theirs. World reports.

“It seemed like she cried almost every day,” Janell told the World. “She didn’t want to say why she was crying.”

The couple she lived with say they are victims of this affair

For most of the school year, Hewitt lived with Rebecca Bernat and John Smith in their Jamaica Plain apartment, according to the World. The publication reports that Hewitt met Bernat while she was allegedly a child patient, under an assumed identity, at the Walden Behavioral Treatment Center.

Bernat was then responsible for supervising residential programs, according to the Worldbut she has since lost her position there and is facing other professional repercussions since the emergence of the case and Hewitt’s arrest.

Hewitt called the couple his adoptive parents; They acted within BPS as parental figures and guardians, attending its basketball games and special education team meetings, although DCF told the publication that the couple had not did not follow the process required by the State, the World reported.

Bernat and Smith have not been charged with any crime. In a statement to the magazine, the lawyers representing them said Hewitt had “deceived and victimized” the couple.

“John and Rebecca were among many people who genuinely believed that a desperate young person was in need,” the statement said.

Hewitt told police she created false documents to get Bernat to take her in, saying she “just wanted to start a family,” according to the World.

Hewitt says truth ‘will be revealed in time’

When Hewitt responded to WorldFollowing her request for an interview, she told the publication that “there’s a reason” why she did everything she did.

But she said her lawyer forbade her from saying anything while her case was in court.

The truth “will emerge in time,” she told the World.

In court, Hewitt’s attorney, Tim Flaherty, previously discussed his “well-documented history” of mental health issues, according to the publication.

Read the full story in the World.