Con Artist Dupes HHS Students

Correction appended.

Students outside of Hoboken High School said a con artist named Dexter Davis duped Hoboken High School administrators and students last week when he offered students jobs and asked them to help him raise money for scholarships. 

"Basically, a guy called the school, asked for the kids with good grades and said he wanted to give them jobs," said senior Ashley Johnson."But he never planned to pay anyone."

Junior Tyquan Goodwin added that Davis asked them to sell folders for $1 each, as well as raffle tickets. He met with nine students, including Johnson and Goodwin, at McDonald's on Friday after school, where they filled out W-4 forms.

Channel 7 News also showed up at the high school on Thursday afternoon, to do a story on the alleged con-man. 

From the start, student Paula Velasquez did not like "Dr." Davis. "His presence wasn't convincing," she said. "He wore the same clothes every time we saw him."

Together, the three students described Davis. They said he wore beat up Jordans, a belt that was peeling apart, a polo shirt with a hole in it and sunglasses. They estimated that he was in his mid- to late-40s.

Hoboken Lieutenant Mark Competello could not confirm the identity of the man, but said he is not from Hoboken. A warrant is out for his arrest, Competello said, which should happen any day now. He'll probably be charged with theft by deception, Competello said. 

The students' initial doubts weren't enough to convince them they were being scammed. They sold the tickets and folders on Washington Street Saturday morning, raising $180, before Velasquez's mother asked her daughter for more background on Davis.

"When I met him, I didn't think he was legitimate," she said. "I questioned his company, and he told me to check with the school, who would verify his information. At that point, I told my daughter and the other kids to stop working for him, and not to come back on Sunday, until we had a chance to look into his background."

Competello said the children were not in danger at any point. 

"When I went into school on Monday," Velasquez's mother continued, "one of the students had already done his homework. He had found an article on the Internet about Davis being arrested on similar charges in Connecticut." The student distributed the article to his classmates.

Paula Velasquez's mother, who did not give her first name, said that the school has apologized. But, she added, that's not enough.

"No one wants to take the blame. But the principal, the superintendent, they all let this man into the school," she said. "What if something had happened to these kids? Then, sorry wouldn't be good enough."

Due to an editing error, a previous version of this story confused Paula Velasquez and her mother's quotes.