NJ Woman, 29, Who Posed As High School Teen 'Meant No Harm,' Cops Say

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — The 29-year-old woman who posed as a high school student and enrolled at New Brunswick High School last month "meant no harm," the New Brunswick Police Department said in a statement released Thursday.

This is the latest update to the story of Hyejeong Shin, who fraudulently enrolled in New Brunswick High School in late January. She took classes and mingled with other students for about four days "before being found out," said New Brunswick schools superintendent Aubrey Johnson.

She told the school she was 15 years old.

"At this time, nothing has revealed that Ms. Shin’s intentions for enrolling in the New Brunswick High School was to bring harm or violence to the students, staff or faculty," said New Brunswick Deputy Police Director J.T. Miller in a statement this week. "Detectives will continue to explore each avenue of this investigation and better understand Ms. Shin’s motive for enrolling at the New Brunswick High School."

However, New Brunswick Today quoted students saying they have received ongoing text messages from the woman, even after she was barred from ever again setting foot on school grounds. One teen student told the newspaper she continues to receive text messages from the woman late at night, asking to "hang out."

The newspaper also reported some students suspect the woman is trying to lure teenage girls into illegal sex work.

New Brunswick Police have not commented on this allegation.

Shin seemed quite interested in making friends, according to reports. Another person described Shin to TAP Into New Brunswick as " a lost, lonely soul who was in the process of enrolling with the hopes of making some new friends."

Shin is expected to appear in Middlesex County Superior Court for her first hearing on Feb. 16.

She was arrested Jan. 24 by New Brunswick Police and charged with one count of providing a false government document (a birth certificate) to the New Brunswick Board of Education, a third-degree crime.

Shin attended Rutgers University-New Brunswick and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in political science and a minor in Chinese.

She still lives in New Brunswick to this day.

Her name is Hyejeong Shin
This is her https://t.co/VVlJaoCp9k pic.twitter.com/6KRHKh3S6T
— Roque (@roquerubio4) January" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/roquerubio... 28, 2023