31-year-old sophomore arrested after attending Texas school for 8 months

Charity Anne Johnson, 31, attended a Texas high school for eight months after enrolling as a 15-year-old sophomore. (via KLTV) Charity Anne Johnson, 31, attended a Texas high school for eight months after enrolling as a 15-year-old sophomore. (via KLTV) Photo: Courtesy Photo: Courtesy Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close 31-year-old sophomore arrested after attending Texas school for 8 months 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — A 31-year-old woman who enrolled at a high school in Longview as a 15-year-old sophomore was arrested this week after school officials determined that her name and age were fake.

Charity Anne Johnson attended New Life Christian School in the East Texas town for eight months under the name Charity Stevens. On Tuesday, school staff discovered her enrollment information was false and notified police. When police confronted Johnson, she provided a fake name and birthday, according to KLTV.

Johnson was enrolled in the school last October by Tamica Lincoln, 30, a shift manager at a McDonalds in Longview, school officials said. Johnson had originally told Lincoln she was a 15-year-old orphan and needed a place to stay but when Lincoln discovered the truth, she immediately notified the school and police, KLTV reported.

“I sympathized with her, and invited her into my home. I took her in as a child, did her hair, got her clothes and shoes,” Lincoln told KLTV.

“Lincoln says Charity claimed she was abused by her biological father, who since has passed away, along with her biological mother. Lincoln acted as Charity's guardian and even met with Charity's 10th grade teachers at New Life Christian School,” KLTV wrote.

Johnson was arrested for failure to identify and giving false information and she remains in the Gregg County Jail, with bail set at $500, according to KLTV.

Lincoln posted a news story about Johnson on her Facebook page and a Dallas woman commented: “This girl did the same thing to my brother and his wife! This is crazy!”

The commenter did not immediately return a request for an interview.

kparker@express-news.net

Twitter: @KoltenParker