‘Lonely’ 29-year-old university student faked her age to enrol at U.S. high school

A 29-year-old woman forged a birth certificate to enrol as a pupil at a New Jersey high school because she was lonely, a court has heard.

Hyejeong Shin pretended to be a teenager when she joined New Brunswick High School but lasted just four days before arousing suspicions.

She was indicted for providing false documents and hindering her own prosecution, but has pleaded not guilty to the charges which could carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Her lawyers described how Shin arrived in the United States from South Korea when she was 16 to attend a boarding school in Massachusetts and “wanted to return to a place of safety.”

She went on to study political science and Chinese at Rutgers University in New York and had been working towards a masters degree.