Many people can’t wait to graduate from high school. However, a Massachusetts woman — Shelby Hewitt, of Canton, now 34 — recently pleaded guilty in a deal to enrolling in 3 different high schools in the Boston area using aliases in the 2022 and 2023 school years. She’ll serve four years’ probation and pay a $9,ooo fine.
In Suffolk Superior Court on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, Hewitt admitted guilt to multiple felony counts, including forgery, identity fraud, and violating standards of conduct for a public employee. Prosecutors said she enrolled at Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester, Brighton High School, and English High School in Jamaica Plain, all part of the Boston Public School system, under fabricated identities and fake birth dates.
According to court filings and reporting from local outlets like Boston.com, Hewitt attended classes and school activities while posing as a teenager, and real high school students were unaware of her true age.
At various points during her scheme, Hewitt used fake names, including Daniella Herrera and Ellie Alessandra Blake, and claimed to be as young as 13. She even participated in school life, making friends with students, joining extracurriculars, and was even placed in special education services she did not legitimately qualify for.
A transfer doc raised red flags
Boston Police and school officials began investigating the irregularities in mid-June 2023. Her deception began to unravel when a suspicious transfer request caught the administrator’s attention at English High School. School officials noticed inconsistencies in her paperwork, including a misspelled agency name and references to nonexistent social workers, and contacted police.
Once investigators dug deeper, they discovered an apartment in Jamaica Plain where Hewitt was living under her alias. A search warrant executed there uncovered forged Lowell Juvenile Court and DCF documents used to enroll her in Boston schools.
Charges originally filed against Hewitt included identity fraud, multiple counts of forgery, larceny over $1,200, making false claims to her employer, and other related allegations. In the plea deal reached this week, several charges were dismissed in exchange for her guilty pleas to key felony counts.
Hewitt’s background includes education beyond high school: She has both undergraduate and graduate degrees and previously worked as a social worker with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. Her periodic employment at the agency lasted from 2016 until February 2023, overlapping with her fraudulent enrollment.
Prosecutors and school officials have not publicly pinpointed a clear motive for Hewitt’s actions, though her attorney and others have pointed to a history of mental health challenges. As part of her agreement, Hewitt must stay away from all Boston Public Schools and avoid any involvement with children under age 18. She is barred from working as a social worker and must also undergo ongoing mental health treatment.
