He went by the name of ‘Asher Potts’

It’s a classic plot-line for teen films like Never Been Kissed – but the ‘adult posing as high school student’ scenario might not be as far fetched as it seems.

Artur Samarin, AKA ‘Asher Potts’, stands accused of masquerading as a pupil at a secondary school in Pennsylvania, USA when he was actually 23 years old.

He allegedly enrolled at Harrisburg High School as a freshman and was just a few months from graduation when people started to suspect he wasn’t who he claimed.

Police believe the Ukrainian may have overstayed his visa, and adopted the new identity to avoid having to leave the country. They arrested him on Tuesday.




According to CBS News, ‘Asher’ was a model student who worked at a food bank and was a member of the Naval Sea Cadets.

He signed up to lots of extracurriculars (Picture: Patty Kim/ Twitter)

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The news channel said police were treating it as a serious matter because Artur is suspected of using false documents to back up his claims, including a driving licence in the name of Asha Potts.

Police think the entire ID could have been made up, rather than it being a case of stealing the real Asha Potts’ identity.

BA remove plane after bed bugs foundMarcel McCaskill said he knew Artur after they were both selected to go to a seven-week maths and science program at Penn State,where they worked on a presention together about cosmic rays and radiation.

‘It’s totally mind-blowing to me,’ Marcel, now a university freshman, told CBS. ‘Honestly, he was a very respectable guy. He was the perfect role model, someone you would want your son to look up to.’

He added that some other students in the program joked Artur was a Russian spy because of his accent, ‘but nothing was wrong with him from my perspective.’

Artur remained in custody yesterday charged with identity theft and tampering with public records.