A 32-year-old woman who once worked for the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families and is suspected of enrolling in three Boston high schools is facing charges including identity fraud and forgery, according to Boston police documents.
An arrest warrant was filed Tuesday for Shelby Hewitt, of Canton, in the West Roxbury District Court. Boston police have been investigating the woman who allegedly falsified her credentials and was able to enroll in several Boston schools.
It was not immediately clear if Hewitt had an attorney who could discuss the arrest warrant. She is a former DCF employee where she served as a social worker on and off between 2016 and this February, the agency confirmed.
A representative for the Boston Public Schools declined to comment Tuesday afternoon.
The situation became public last week, when Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper released a statement describing the hoax, calling it “an extremely sophisticated case of fraud.” She said that as soon as school staff identified irregularities with the student’s enrollment, the case was referred to Boston police, “who are now conducting a criminal investigation.”
The arrest warrant says the situation came to light on Wednesday June 14, when the principal of English High School called the police to investigate a girl. Administrators were concerned when a man came to the school to say that he was withdrawing her daughter for bullying, despite enrolling her the week before and while staff worked to address the issue with the student.
The student was identified in the report as Hewitt, who had been using the name Ellie Alessandra Blake. Concerned about a potential custody issue with her parents, school officials contacted the district to obtain her documentation and discovered an error on one of her enrollment forms, according to the arrest warrant.
In a letter to parents, Skipper said the woman had been “removed from school and ordered to stay off Boston Public Schools (BPS) property.” She said that “at various times during the 2022-2023 school year,” the woman attended Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Brighton High School, and English High School using the student transfer process and enrolling under different names.
