Texas Mother Who Posed as Teen Daughter Found Guilty

Casey Garcia pretended to be her 13-year-old daughter for a day
By Liz MacGahan,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 6, 2021 3:30 PM CDT
Updated Nov 23, 2023 9:40 AM CST
UPDATE Nov 23, 2023 9:40 AM CST

Casey Garcia, the then-30-year-old mom who posed as her 13-year-old daughter at a Texas middle school in 2021 was last week found guilty of criminal trespassing. Another charge of tampering with government records had previously been dropped. The now 33-year-old was handed 6 months of probation, along with 100 hours of community service and a $700 probated fine. Garcia said the stunt was intended to show that school security is too lax, especially amidst the threat of school shootings. Her attorney tells the Washington Post that she was disappointed in the conviction: "Clearly, trespassing on school grounds—and nobody was harmed by it—is less harmful than the harm you're trying to avoid, which is a school shooting."

Jun 6, 2021 3:30 PM CDT

It's not unusual for mothers and daughters to look alike and share clothes. It's very unusual for a mom to go to middle school in her daughter's place, however. Casey Garcia, mom to a middle schooler in San Elizario, Texas, did just that, and now faces charges. She took a video of herself dressed in skinny jeans, high-top sneakers, a hoodie, and a mask hanging out at school taking classes, talking to the principal, and eating chicken nuggets in the cafeteria. Nobody figured out she was a 30-year-old mom and not a 13-year-old kid until 7th period, the El Paso Times reports.

"I'm no spring chicken," she says in a follow-up video she posted to explain why she pulled the stunt. She's as petite as a kid at just under 5 feet tall and just over 100 pounds, but she doesn't look or talk especially like a child. And that, she says, is why she did it. She expresses concern that someone with scarier motivations than hers could easily find a way into the school and harm kids. She said nobody said anything to her except to tell her to put her phone away until she was busted by a teacher at the end of the day. She was also busted by the cops, who charged her with criminal trespass, tampering with government records, and an old traffic warrant, after school officials called the San Elizario sheriff's office, KWTX reports. She has that on video, too.
(More weird crimes stories.)

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