Law&Crime Sidebar - 6 Suspects Caught 'Pretending' to Be Someone They're Not

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

A social worker who enrolled in high school at 30, a convicted felon showing up to crime scenes dressed as a cop, a woman accused of stealing a nurse’s license and treating thousands of patients. These six people thought they could be anyone they wanted to be, but this isn’t make-believe. And one by one, they all got caught. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks it all down.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're not a police officer. No, I work for the park bridge, I said. I worked for Park Ridge. Okay. I'm not with them anymore. Are you arrested? You are. Hold on.

Hold on. You understand why you're detained right now or no? I don't know. I think I can... Why you did going what you're going? Okay. Is it okay if I explained some of it? I should never have been there and

through my actions, I violated the trust of my family and everybody in my life that loved me. What makes somebody wake up and decide to become somebody else? It's a fair question. When I talk about a social worker who enrolled in high school at the age of 30, a convicted felon accused of showing up to crime scenes dressed as a cop, a woman accused of stealing a nurse's license and treating thousands of patients. These people are accused of not only trying to be somebody else, but breaking the law while doing it. And one by one, they got caught in law enforcement's crosshairs. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. So here's the thing about pretending to be somebody or not. Eventually, usually, someone figures it out. Now, what I'm

about to get into are some resolved cases, some unresolved cases. So some of these are just allegations. Some of these actually resulted in a conclusion, but I just want to give that caveat there, because when I talk about law enforcement catching on, maybe it's a cop who notices your badge doesn't match your story. Maybe it's a Walmart employee who runs your name and finds out you've trespassed before. Maybe it's a group of high schoolers who find your yearbook photo from 15 years ago. So in this episode of Sidebar, we're going to be looking at six cases where people are accused of thinking they could pull off the ultimate identity swap.

Some apparently did it for powers. All different circumstances, but they have one thing in common. They got caught. Now, yes, some are innocent and so proven guilty, right? Their cases haven't been resolved as of yet. But I just want you to hear what we're talking about, because wait until you hear what happens when a convicted felon is accused of showing up to a real crime scene

dressed as a SWAT officer or when a social worker, what she did after she was already inside a high school for months, pretending to be a student. So we're going to start this off in Port Orange, Florida. This is where a Florida woman took a fight over a Walmart parking spot way too far. Her decision to pull out a police badge that didn't belong to her led to her arrest. And it was all because someone parked where apparently they shouldn't have. A 41-year-old woman named Alexis Rosati had written out what she called a citation. Really, it was just a note on a scrap of paper and left it on a vehicle that was parked in a spot that Walmart had offered to law enforcement partners as a courtesy.

So when the driver came back and saw the note, he confronted her. And he started recording. There's no statute. No, there's not. Show me the statute. You're the police officer. Why don't you look it up? But why don't you look it up?

But you should already know it. It's good. Tell me what the statute. Tell me what the statute is. Does it say anything about it? the car would be towed. You're not a police officer. No, you're not, not with the, not with teeth like that. Not with teeth like that. Ma'am, you're not a police officer, ma'am. You're flashing a badge around. It's, it says Bellevue. She's just flashed a badge. Excuse me, excuse me, ma'am.

She's flashing a badge around like she's a police officer, and she's not. She's not a police officer. Yeah, but you guys know to tow my call? No, but just... Thank you. You heard what she said. Your cars can't be towed. You're not a police officer. Why are you flashing a badge at me telling me you're a police officer and you're not?

You're going to be in trouble for that. Do you just carry your badge around when you're off duty? I'm not off duty. How do you know what I'm... You're on duty with crocs on? I don't care what you're doing. I don't care... That's not a rule.

There's difference between rules and laws, man. and laws, ma'am. That's a rule. You can't give me a ticket. Give me a ticket. I'm going to stay. I'll be right out here. Please give me a ticket.

I'm asking you, please. Assaulting an officer? Nobody saw me assault her. So Rosati seemed to claim on video. She was an officer from a different jurisdiction. And the man that she was arguing with, this guy, Jason, told police she pulled a badge out of of her pocket that appeared to say something like Bellevue, and that's when he started the recording. Now, Jason took the video to the Port Orange Police Department.

I parked where it says reserved for law enforcement. Okay. Partners. Do they have that at the neighborhood Walmart? Yeah. Okay. I know they had that. I parked there sometimes.

I have a bone foot today. So I was like, I'm just going to run. I literally had to run and get five things. That's just a courtesy. There's no law against it. Well, thank you. Yeah. And you're telling me that somebody said so.

So this is the. Yeah. The note that I came out. Somebody left us on your car? Well, I have her on camera today. She flashed a badge at me. So I went into Walmart to ask them about the note and about the parking. Can I get towed for parking there?

Absolutely not. I guess the person who wrote this note overheard. So I was walking. I was like, whatever. I'm walking back out to my car to go home. And I found that. this. Well, I found that first and when I was walking back from Walmart

the second time, she comes out, flashes her badge. She's wearing, I think white shorts, crocs, and a tank top. Seemed like off-duty and type? Or was it like professional wear? Like, it looked like she was working at the time right?

No, she claimed that she was on the clock in Walmart working on something in Walmart. Walmart asked the managers because she was talking to the managers. Yeah. Ask the matter. She says, well, we don't know what she's going. She may be working is what they said. Yeah. Okay, well, whatever. So I called you guys to see if y'all could come up with a name. You see where she signed it and printed it. That's hard to read. It looks like barbell or barn bell. It's hard to tell.

But anyway, she flashed the badge. And then I got, of course, I started, I started recording. Okay. So I have that. Hopefully, I should be able to see who it is. one of our people. Okay. So there is a Bellevue, Florida. It's about two hours away. So the investigating officer called that department to double check. Good afternoon, Bellevue Police Department.

Hey, how you doing? My name is Sergeant Fischetti, and I'm with the Port Orange Police Department over in Volusia County. This might seem weird, but I'm trying to find out if you have a certain officer that works there to kind of give you a quick heads up. So there was a kind of a, not even an altercation, but some words were exchanged between some people here at the Walmart. And one of them tried to identify themselves as a potential Bellevue police officer. No way. Yeah, I mean, I don't know why they would be way over here. They even said, well, they showed a Bellevue badge or something, but said they work here in Port Orange.

I'm not sure exactly what it's going to turn out to be. But one of the leads, I just want to see if this is potentially somebody works there. because they left a note on their car. They wrote that their name was officer. They put a first initial J, but then the last name of like Barbell or Baskell or something with a...

What's that? Briccher? No, it's not Butcher. It looks like it ends in E-L, maybe starts with a B, so somewhere between like B. And it's going to be a female. Female brown hair,

maybe late 30. 30s, maybe 40. I'm not sure how many options you have there if you would know basically everybody that works there. Yes, oh, no, trust me, I know them all. We don't have so many. Okay. And this was recently, right?

This was just, you know, within the last hour or so probably, last couple hours. It was earlier today. Okay, we have Sergeant Esquivel, who she has dark hair. She's in her early 30s, though. Real skinny? No, so this is a little bit heavier set. so no, definitely wouldn't be considered real skinny. Okay.

Okay. Sergeant was point as a Bellevue officer. Yeah. Yeah, same thing. Yeah. Hold on just... Okay. That's Chief.

Hey, Chief. It's Sergeant Fischetti over with Port Orange Police Department here in Volusia County. So, just kind of a wild shot here. I don't have much information on here. A gentleman came to our lobby. He was over at the Walmart here. And our Walmart, they have like this courtesy... like law enforcement parking spot and he's not law enforcement but he had parked there because he's

not disabled but likes to be close anyway so he's in that spot and somebody kind of confronted him on like hey you can't park there and he's like you know basically like says who and this person says well i'm a police officer uh bellevue police may not even be belview florida and maybe you know it could be there's plenty of bellevues all around the country um didn't get an actual spelling nothing like that, but then she says, well, I'm working over here in Port Orange, because he's like, well, you're in poor and she's like, well, I work over here. So it doesn't make sense that you're a Bellevue Police, but you work over here. But she actually ended up leaving a note on his car, like, you know, Port Orange Police has been notified, things like that, and she signs the officer first initial

J, but then like Barbell or Basque, you can't really read the last name, but it definitely looks like a B, and then it's an E-L-L. I have no females like that. Okay, yeah. He actually, he actually, recorded her. So, I mean, if you don't have anything, there's probably no reason to even go through and even watch the videos and stuff like that. But she, like, from watching it, she doesn't give me the vibes of being a pleaser. She kind of seemed maybe it might be a mentally ill person just claiming to be, I don't know.

Yeah. So I was thinking that route out also. I just wanted to double check with you guys before I start maybe looking some other things. Maybe even somebody impersonating officer, I don't know. But I mean, I've got one female officer she's accounted for here. Yep. Okay, yeah, so definitely can't be over here. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Sounds good. Well, I appreciate you taking a couple minutes to talk to me and I just wanted to make sure. Yeah. All right. Sounds good. All right.

Thank you. Have a good day. Yep. Yeah, Bellevue police had no idea who she was. So the officer also pulls up the surveillance video from inside the store. And it seemed to show Rosati walking up to a Walmart employee, the same one seen in Jason's video, and that employee later told police that Rosati identified herself as an officer and held up a metal object that could have been a badge. Now, here's where it gets weird.

A different officer had been dispatched to Rosati's home that same day for something else entirely. You see, police were looking into whether Rosati, who was a caregiver for her uncle, James Barkel, might be misusing his money. Barkel was reportedly experiencing mental decline. So the officer had no idea about this Walmart situation. No, no worries. I wasn't like too worried about it. Are you, Alexis? I am. Hi. You want to go back inside and talk? You want to talk out here? No, we'll talk out here. My dad's inside. Is it about the situation that's just happening at Walmart? Um, so yeah, it's something with the DCF, they called, they called us just to come out and do it like an investigation. This guy is a jerk.

He complains all the time at Walmart. What he did was he was parked in the law enforcement parking spot. So I left a note on his car that said, you've been warned. This is for law enforcement. What if there was an emergency? Okay, I don't think that's what I'm here for. What? Are you talking about, or sorry, to continue, I think he might be explaining a different story, but I, I, that's the only, what's DCF? Department of Child and, um, uh, oh, I don't know anything. What's, what's that about? So, uh, You work with a Jay. He's a retired police.

Yeah, but you help. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So you work with him, right? Yeah, but my dad was just, you want to go inside my, yeah, come on in,

because this does have to do with that. I thought this is at Walmart. No, I don't know anything about that. If they called, we didn't do anything about it. Yeah, come on in, Officer Coach. My son's asleep, so. Yeah, we'll try to keep it down. Okay.

Now, when the original officer saw that report, he noticed something. That name, Barkel, looked like the name that was scribbled at the bottom of the fake citation. So police went back to Barkel's home and inside a black wallet, they apparently found a police badge and ID assigned to the now retired James Barkel of the Belleville Police. So when police went to arrest Rosati, they found that she'd been driving. her uncle's car, which had a second police badge inside. Officers, they confiscated both badges, and according to police, due to Barkel's poor health, it was unlikely he knew that she had them or was using them to impersonate an officer. So Rosati was charged with impersonating a police officer. She was released on a $3,000 bond. She later told a local news outlet that the driver had

zipped into the spot so fast he almost hit a woman walking in the parking lot, so she felt she needed to intervene. But she admitted showing her uncle's badge, maybe a step too far. The court record show Rosati entered a no contest plea to the impersonation charge. She was given two years probation, and she also had to pay nearly $1,000 in court costs and fines. So that case was about somebody pretending to be something they weren't to maybe scare off a driver. Our next case, it is about somebody who pretended to be somebody else in time. entirely to seemingly get away with a crime that is almost too petty to believe. We had to Leesburg, Florida, where a bold move inside a Walmart, yes, another Walmart, got caught on camera.

We're talking about loss prevention watching very closely as a man helped himself to a brand new pair of shoes right there in the aisle. He is accused of swapping out his old kicks for a fresh box on the shelf and then stroll past the registers like it was no big deal heading straight into the restroom. That is when Leesburg police step in. Where this guy at? He's still in the bathroom? You got video? I'm on to see it look like real quick. Thank you. Bye-bye. You said the shoes were stolen? Yeah. He's a black guy wearing a black shirt and he had a truck. So he was just right here. I was watching him on swearing-in-one. Somebody was out there in one of your carts, so I had brought them in there. So you can see he's

flip flops, right? That's in select, you know, that. Is that other guy with him? I don't, yeah, the other guy's inside the store somewhere. So it's the black guy with the, what's that, catching shorts? Yep. So it goes right here. And then what he does was put the slippers in that box, pack that up back, leave the box with the slippers, and we walk away. So it just went into that wrestle. It's supposed to be coming out. A little bit so shake him up. Yeah. So officers move in on the bathroom and they make contact with the suspect. What's up, man? What's going on?

What's going on? What's going to? What's going on? What's going on? I only got my phone on me. What's going on? Okay. I'll explain everything to you, I don't worry.

What's going on? What's going to? What are going to? Can y'all explain something to me? Yeah, we're going to explain it to you, okay? Relax. All I did was take a sh-all. All I did was take a shit, though.

What's going on? Okay. Tack to Leesburg Wonder Taint. I'm not telling me nothing. I told you. I'm explaining to you, man. All right, what's your name, man? You have an ID on your name?

All right, I'm going to read you something, okay? You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. You have the right to have a lawyer with you prior and during any questioning. You're detained. Having these rights in mind to you wish to speak and answer questions. Can I spell your first name for me? T-A-Y-S-H-O-N.

T-A-Y-S-H-O-N, middle-in-M-Mid, and C. Spell your last name. Did it birth. Yeah, give us a second. I got my people out of it. So not that you're in here, no, that read you, your rights. You know where you're in here, right? Yeah, but that's not the case.

Now, police, they escort the alleged bathroom bandit over to the security office for questioning. You got the same name as you? Nah, take Sean and then he took on. He's 20, he 23 years of age. And when did you say your birthday was? His is his B2. Tacto to Tact 3. You have his birthday as... Give me tattoos?

It can pee on the backside. You're back again? Is one of them his brother? Yeah. Okay. That's definitely him. That's his brother. That's the brother?

Yeah. What do you mean? You see? That's brother. Do you have tattoos you did wear? No, there's just... T.P. on the back side. Does that say Quinti on your right hand?

Tacker is where? I just made the phone off the signed it. Not right now. Reference to email. Can we see if someone has a tattoo with the name Quincy on the right hand? What are we doing? Yeah. We're investigating with that.

Good. 10-4. That's going to be our subject. All right. You want to say your name of date of birth again? What's your first name? So tell me your first name. Okay.

So you were giving us a wrong name in native birth. All right. You said he was trespassing here? Trusby. death and I think obstruction. Mm-hmm. So I wasn't, wait, that trespass wasn't done not through a year, is trespass for life.

When you, I wasn't, you can't come back. I signed the paper with that. So how'd he's been to fall off? No, we're gonna, yeah, we're not gonna like to do that. When they get to the jail, you can do that. My son is at the house, pay. You left your son by yourself. Oh, somebody.

They're never saying by them never know they're not going to come. Do you can make that phone call and we can do that. We get to where we're going. Nothing different, but I know you ain't going to work with me, because I don't doing our job, but it's like... The thing is, man, I wouldn't mind working with you. But you lied multiple times. I know it's something else I can do you.

No. I'm good. I know it's something else. Something got to give. Come on. I got so much going for myself. You should have probably thought about this beforehand. I'm not answering that phone.

Please have to the phone. So I got in a face the judge. Yeah. So there's no bond. You know what I'm saying? Like it's no bond? When I go to Tim's 12. I don't know what it is?

Please let him know something. Do you want to go with a degree with him and I can take care of this or what you want? Can you please let I know something? Yeah. Um, you can go ahead and kick those shoes up. You please let him know something, man. He doesn't know something. That's your girl right there? I'm going to talk on the phone.

Nothing for the truth. What's wrong? Right saying I'm saying this. He's my fiance. I'm going to know. This one can't play, all right? I need to get bailed out or something. We ain't got no money for that.

You can see a Potskin. Help me out. So the man told officers that his name was Tachan Pinellas. He gave them a birthday. He said he didn't have any ID. And the officer kindly called him. collected his contact information so his wife could bail him out. But when the loss prevention associate pulled up that name, something didn't match. The photo on file for Tayshan Pinellas

didn't look like him. Dispatch ran the tattoos and confirmed what officers were already suspecting. The man wasn't Tayshan. He was Tequan Sharif Pinellas, 23 years old, and Teikwan had a problem. He had been accused of trespassing from this Walmart before when they had, asked him about it, he reportedly said he didn't know the trespass warning was still active. And as for the shoes, he said he didn't intend to steal them. He seemingly claimed he just had to use the restroom before he paid. But when officers asked for his wallet, cash, bank card, he reportedly didn't have any. All he was apparently carrying was a vape and a cell phone.

So the shoes were valued at 4999. They were taken from Taekwon returned to Walmart staff. And Taekwon was arrested for retail theft after allegedly. trying to walk out of this store in a new pair of shoes. And, oh, by the way, who was the person that he's accused of impersonating? He's accused of giving officers his brother's name when he was caught. Now, what happened after the arrest, whether he took a plea deal or served time or went to trial, less clear. We couldn't find more information about that. But I will tell you, that's a story of one guy who allegedly pretended to be his own brother to get out of a shoe theft, right? That's the

accusation. But what happens when the person accused of pretending to be somebody else is actually a former cop and what they're allegedly pretending to be is still a cop. A former cop in Illinois got pulled over for expired registration. Simple traffic stop, right? But when he opened his wallet to get his license, the officer apparently saw something that turned a routine stop into a criminal investigation, a police batch. It's happened back in February of 2020. in Arlington Heights, Illinois. So a Cook County Sheriff's deputy pulled over a man named Scott Pearson for expired registration. Now, Pearson appeared to be cooperative.

He explained that he renewed his tags, but there was a mix-up with the spelling on the plate. How are you? How are you? Church police. Do you realize that insurance? Mm-hmm. I stopped you for the expired tags. Yeah, I renewed them, and then I got the, they spelled the plate wrong.

It's not stolen because, you know. the ringo's number one's on plate. And then I went to renew it again and they said that I had to go get the commission process it again. So you're from Martinston? Park Ridge. Park Ridge? Yeah. Okay. Give me a second. So the deputy went back to his cruiser to run Pearson's information and when he returned, he noticed something in Pearson's wallet. You have an ID homework? Yeah, you know I don't have one on me, no. No, I worked for Park Ridge. I said. I worked for Park Ridge. I worked for Park Ridge. Okay. I'm not with them anymore. Okay. So is there a reason why you're carrying that then?

It's just the wall I've always had. I don't use it, use it. Okay, may you see that again? Yeah. You can take the badge if you want. Okay. Give me a second, okay? Yeah. Staying the vehicle from this, Scott. So Pearson apparently said he worked for Park Ridge Police and then seemingly corrected himself that he worked there past tense, right? right? He wasn't with them anymore. The badge seemingly was just in the wallet that he always

carried, that he didn't use it. But the deputy took the badge, called Park Ridge PD to verify, and they confirmed Scott Pearson was no longer employed there. Public records appear to show that he worked for Park Ridge PD from 2020 to 2023, and his separation date was listed as February 29th at 2024. He's been inactive for nearly a year when this traffic stop happened. From there, a Cook County deputy was called to assist with the situation, and that is when things escalated. What's his name? Scott.

What's going on, brother? How are you? Do me a favor. Step out the car real quick. You have anything on you? No, sir. No weapons, not doing enough? No.

Okay, let me step out. Just face right here. Your hands up real quick on the car. Hey, three, nice. Sir, you got nothing on you, no weapons on nothing? No, no. All right. Let me say, if your hands be in your back.

Yeah. Hey, three, next. Um, just being detained at the moment. So we catch you some questions, investigate everything. Um, you are no longer employed by Parkbridge, correct? Correct. Okay. So what's the reason you're showing our officer the badge?

I didn't show. I opened my wall and that's, you don't have a little... I know, but when you're, okay, when you have been terminated from a police department or anything, you're not allowed to carry any police identity, no, uh, badge. no badge, no nothing, anything at all, because that's pretty much, you're impersonating a police officer, which you are no longer a police officer. Yeah, I didn't state that I was a cop, I didn't. But you still have a badge on you, right? And you showed him the badge and he said you used to work for Park Ridge or Burridge, wherever it was, right? If you remember, I asked the, is that Arlington and you said, no, that's Park Ridge?

I said, no, I worked for Park Ridge. Yeah. Okay, do you work for any other department at the moment at the moment or anything? No, I said it worked. Okay. Yeah, the deputy explained why this was a problem. Pearson was no longer employed as a police officer, yet he was accused of carrying around a badge. And in Illinois, that is impersonating a peace officer. Now, Pearson seemingly insisted he hadn't shown the badge intentionally. He just opened his wallet and it was there. But then the deputy noticed something else on Pearson's SUV. Does this car have lights?

Because we see the lights on there. They don't work. Where's the switch at that you would activate them if you did have them? It was underneath the front, but they don't work. Underneath the floorboard, it's my wire. It's right here? It doesn't work. It doesn't work.

Like I said, I had, yeah, they were there when I sent it to 332 go up there. That's the wall that we live. Yeah, so look, Pearson reportedly said the lights didn't work, but you had this deputy who appeared to be skeptical, so he reportedly searched the vehicle, found a plug, and activated the lights. They don't have police lights. Hey, they do work. They're working. They're flashing. So the vehicle does have, as you can see, police lights in the front.

Yeah, the lights appear to have been working, seemingly flashing. They apparently had been installed by Pearson himself, you know, the switch for the emergency lights. So the deputy laid it out for him. Yeah, police lights. lights on a vehicle that you're saying apparently don't work, but you have lights on here. You're carrying around a badge and you're not a sworn police officer. So that's all of impersonation, impersonating the police officer. When I was working there, I had.

Okay, so you understand when you get terminated from a job, that should automatically come off. That should not be on your vehicle at all. Because now you have these on your vehicle and you also have a badge. So how do we know you're not pulling somebody over? You can say, yeah, they don't work right now, but there's something you could probably go under the hood, connect them, and you can start pulling people over and act like you're still the police and you're not. So that's all evidence of impersonating the police officer, which at the time you should have just turned your stuff into Park Ridge or whoever it was. Except the badge, you should have turned the badge in as well.

Yeah, go ahead. Could you answer that to my, I'm supposed to put my baby mama and my kids? Okay, give me a second. I'm supposed to pay him up in half hour. Okay. This one or, yeah, because we're going to go. This one or yeah because we're gonna be right here anyways because we don't want to be too far And now we'll go from there after we'll see what Sarge says right now. You don't got nothing in the back, right?

Alright, wait. See, you got it? Turn your foot you gotta turn your foot somehow. Yep, turn your body. There you go, let me get this seat up. My boss says I was gonna go that person that guy was that you wouldn't have a retirement partner for one of my guys tonight I understand but you see where we're coming from right if I'm a police officer right now and I get terminated and I carry a badge on me and I open up my wallet and I have a badge there and I have a vehicle with actually police like still on it that's red flags. At my point I would say you know what I'm terminated I'm gonna need to get rid of this badge turn this back into them and I'm gonna take these lights off this vehicle.

Okay well we'll talk around a little bit. What was the reason behind the restriction again for now? Yeah so Pearson was arrested for impersonating a police officer issued multiple traffic citations and during the booking process one of the deputies seemingly answered his phone when it rang and appeared to be the mother of his child calling. Hello? Hello. This is Officer Parre with the Cook County Shirts Police Department. I don't know who the guy is that you're calling. I think he is being detained at the moment. He is being arrested for impersonating a police officer. So he's, he's being arrested.

going to be in custody will be going down to the station at Maywood he will have probably court hearing tomorrow to see what his bond is going to be if they're going to bond him or give him a bond and his vehicle will be seized it's going to be towed because there are police lights on the vehicle that are actively working as well so right now this is an investigation so he is being detained okay once he gets his phone call from the station he'll probably give you a call okay Thank you. Bye.

So Scott Pearson was cited, released after booking. He was indicted in March of 2025, a one count of impersonating a police officer. And according to Cook County Court Records, as of the latest available information, Pearson's case remains pending. He was not in custody. So by all accounts, he's awaiting trial on that impersonation charge. So that's a story about a former cop who allegedly couldn't let go of the badge, right? But our next case, it is about somebody who never had a badge, never had a license to begin with. and was accused of putting thousands of patients at risk pretending to be something she wasn't.

A Florida woman who spent nearly two years working at a hospital treating thousands of patients all without a nursing license. And she might have gotten away with it if she hadn't gotten a promotion. Yeah, this one went down in Palm Coast, Florida. 29-year-old woman named Autumn Bardisa was arrested in March of 2025, and the body cam footage from that morning shows she seemed genuinely confused. about why she was being handcuffed. Hey there, are you autumn?

Yeah? Can you step out of the car for me, please? Oh, wait, what's going on? What's your hand by? Okay, my child's across the street. Okay, all right, all right. Are you are. You are.

Hold on, hold on. Can I ask? Can I ask? What can I? Can I? Can I see my car? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we'll take care about that. Can I come my boss?

Do you have any other weapons besides? Do you have any other weapons besides? One of you know. So, yeah. Let me just tell you, there is a felony warrant for your arrest, okay? The bond, there is a bond on it, okay, which is good. It's, I believe, 70,000 is the bond amount, okay? So you can bond out.

What, for what? For what? You know what all this is about? Not really. I kind of had something with the Department of Health, but I have my license. Okay. And I thought it was squared away because it's clear and active. Okay.

So that does stem from this. we were contacted not me directly but a guy with Health and Human Services reached out to you a couple months ago Yeah and I had had an attorney and I hadn't heard me

Okay so the attorney reached out to him and said that you were currently being represented and all that other stuff Yeah I'd love to have a conversation with you but if you're represented by an attorney and that's somebody that wants to be here for all that kind of questioning I obviously have limited on

where this conversation can go I know what is it's it has to do with with with medical fraud I can get the exact thing I don't remember off the top of my head but it has to do medical and stuff stuff like that you have you have seven counts of identity theft and seven counts of practicing without a license and this does stem from everything with the department of health and admin health and all that stuff I mean you're already aware of it we you're I You've given statements to them to other investigators before. This is just your first time meeting me. Okay, I didn't. So, no, I've been with the other guys whenever they're doing their investigation, but I was not face-to-face with you.

Okay. So. Can I just follow her on my phone at least? Yeah, well, no, no worries. We'll let you do all that. Now, we can't just take the hand calls off here because, I mean, I know you're saying you're not going to fight, but I mean you've seen TV, you watch the movies, like you see. I've never had a record.

I've never done anything. I'm not saying you have, okay? But we just don't want to, we don't want it to escalate to some place that we put it. Because we take the hand calls off you. But what we can do is get the person who's watching your child, and if you want to tell them what's going on, you certainly can. I mean, or if you want us to tell them. Can I call them off so I can call her on the phone at least?

Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Okay. No, no, no, I'm not going to say it on, but I'm going to grab your phone. We'll grab your phone. put on speaker for you. Yeah, we'll grab your phone and put on a speaker. No, no, the point is that, is that I'm not saying you're gonna do anything.

We take the hand calls off that gives you, it puts it there, okay? It's not, or, it. Can you go to a recent call? And then, yeah. Jim, okay. Yeah. Looks like your front doors open.

Yeah, it was, yeah, please. Did you wanna step inside out of the heat for a second? Yeah, yeah. I mean, no, anyone else inside the house? Okay. Can these, I promise on. Can anyone else inside the house? Just my dog, but he's, can you just be taken off?

I won't do anything. We can't take them off right for right now, okay? Come, look to your house. Here, I mean, I mean, like I said, just, yeah, I'll just move my car in the driveway. Yeah, so Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staley held a news conference after her arrest. He called us one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud his office had ever seen. believe that there were over 4,400 patients that she was in one manner of another that was involved in care at Advent Health Palm Coast, which is our newest hospital in Flegler County.

So how did this happen? Well, according to the sheriff's office, Bardisa graduated from Rasmussen University in March of 2022. Advent Health had hired her in July 23 as an advanced nurse It's a position that works under the supervision of a registered nurse. On her application, she indicated she was an education-first registered nurse, meaning she had completed nursing school but hadn't passed the national license exam yet. So investigators say that during that hiring process, she later claimed she had passed that exam and provided a license number that actually belonged to a different nurse, a real-life nurse. And when the hospital circled back to check on her licensing status, Bardisa told them that

she was scheduled to take the exam. And then a few months later, she told an HR specialist that she'd passed and obtained her license. And she provided a license number that came back as valid. But again, it belonged to another woman named Autumn. Oh yeah, another woman named Autumn, a different autumn. And Bardisa told HR that she'd, you know, recently gotten married and her last name had changed. And that's what's going on here. So the license might not reflect that yet. This HR person told her to upload a copy of her marriage certificate to the hospital's database. That never happened. And no one apparently followed up. So according to the arrest documentation, because of that oversight,

Bardisa was allowed to start the nurse residency program. She graduated in June of 2024, accepted a position as a registered nurse at Advent Health. And here's the part that really gets you. She was caught because she got a promotion in early, January of 2025, Bardisa was offered a position as charge nurse. That is a promotion that sparked a lot of interest from her colleagues because an unidentified nurse checked the status of her license and discovered the only license autumn Bardisa had was an expired certified nursing assistant license. That prompted Advent Health to start an inquiry. And they asked Bardisa for that marriage

certificate, that marriage license that she never provided. Sheriff Staley later, out the charges at the news conference. They fired her. Two months later, they notified us of the incident, which began a seven-month investigation. And the reason it took seven months is you have to remember that we are trying to thread the needle on HIPAA laws. And so we have to have victims. We don't know who the victims are.

And we also have to work with the hospital to obtain victim names. And so that requires subpoenas and investigation and that takes a while to complete. Now with 4,000 over 4,400 victims, if you will, in this case, we worked with the Seventh Circuit judicial state attorney's office, which is R.J. Larissa to determine how you can't really charge 4,400 counts. I guess you could, but it's going to significantly bogged down the criminal justice system. So the time that she was employed as what they thought was a fully certified RN was seven months. So they charged one count for each month that she worked at the hospital as allegedly a fully licensed authorized RN. So that's why it's seven counts. Seven counts of practicing medicine without a license, basically,

and seven counts of identity fraud. Go to a hospital and you trust that the hospital staff is fully licensed, prepared to serve you and whatever your medical need is. And so you have to have faith in the system. And I think in this case, it showed that there was some flaws at least in follow-up and a very trustworthy hiring process when you say I just got married that's why my last name is different and they asked her to

provide but there was no follow-up so I think there were some some mistakes made in the hiring process but you can deal with Advent Health on that because we only look at the criminal case and what led up to it, what caused it. To our knowledge, there's no serious injury or death related to this incident. And, you know, she must have done a good job, even though she wasn't licensed because they were looking at a promotion to the charge nurse, which is what triggered the review of her file and ultimately how she got caught. So Bardisa was initially facing seven counts of practicing as a health care professional without a license and seven counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information. So 14 charges in total.

But the court records show that in August of 2025, prosecutors took no action on 12 of those charges. Now, by the way, after that whole back and forth of the promotion and not being able to find the right documentation, she was terminated on January 22nd, 2025, by the way. So at that point, according to work documents, Bredicep had allegedly been providing medical services for approximately 4,486 patients from June 2024 through January 2025. Multiple media outlets, they reached out to Advent Health for comment and the hospital responded with a statement, we do not comment on private personnel matters or pending legal matters. All inquiries should be directed to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office. Fast forward to April 7, 2026. just happened. Bardisa entered a plea and was sentenced to five years of probation,

avoiding prison time, but barred from working in the medical field. So that is somebody who was accused of pretending to be a nurse, treating thousands of patients without a license. Our next case, it's about somebody who allegedly pretended to be a cop and took it so far that real officers seemingly thought he was one of their own. So we got this guy from Washington State. He's accused of showing up to active crime scenes, flashing a badge, telling responding officers he was one of them, and when they started asking questions, that's when his story allegedly seemingly unraveled in ways that you really have to see to believe. This happened in Bremerton, Washington, back in September of 2025. So police were responding to reports of a fire in a parking garage.

When a man pulled up in an unmarked Ford Explorer, apparently with flashing blue lights, He is accused of wearing body armor with police and swat patches, a metallic badge that looked like it came from the Edmonds Police Department, and he was apparently carrying a gun. His name, Michael Skeletta Teets, 49 years old, and when he got out of the SUV, he is accused of walking up to the Bremerton officers and telling them he was an off-duty detective from Edmonds. Now, at first, the officer believed him. One officer even admitted on camera that he thought Skeletta was one of their detectives. But Skoletta is accused of spinning this whole backstory. 27 years retired from Baltimore City, worked for Thurston County Sheriff's Office,

now with Edmonds PD and the gang and intelligence division. Take a look. Were you on the phone here? They asked us to come outside. I thought it was for you. Who asked us to come outside? I don't know. He's on the phone with him.

No, I thought I was pulled over because I thought you guys need help with that. Oh, no, we thought, I'm confused right now, man. It's been my first day back in a while, so I was out with COVID and it was bad. Okay, you did a while since I've been back here. Oh yeah, it was 11th time having it and it was the worst. I had to go to the hospital, get breathing treatment. Yeah. It was bad.

They hurt to talk. Okay. It was, I'm good now, promise. Right on, man. Just getting back here, disaster and there assumes I'm talking with the shift change and debriefing with him. They're like to speak about, like they made it out way worse. Oh, okay. And I was like, what's going on?

No, it popped out. I was like, I was like, yeah. I thought you were like one of our detectives at that. I know some of the guys will put the task force. But it's really with the sheriff. What do you say? Yeah, try that way then. Well, use your best judgment.

Yeah, grown. Okay. Yeah, I deal with more of the parole information than anything. With over there at the Kitsap Shares department, the detectives over there. I know more of those guys than anything out here. Okay. All right, yeah. Right on, man. How long you been? How long you been?

Well, so I retired from Baltimore City after 27 years. Came out here. It took about a year for me to end up going back into an agency. I went with Thurston at first, Thurston Department. There was a lot of things going on. and they wanted to put me in the jail. I was like, no, I got there. I've been, I know a lot of detectives from Edmonds.

Yeah. From the gang network and stuff like that. The anti-narcotics training on base every year. Yeah. Guys that, they're like, hey, man, let's see if it gets you gone. I had to go back to, uh, get you. the Washington Post and RCWs.

How long have you been Detective of Edvins? About two years. Two years? Yeah. Day. Yeah. Yeah.

Two years with the robbery. I started with robbery and now with the games intelligence. Dang.

It's pretty hardcore. We're going to. We're going on. Hey, I just want to, I just got to stop by her stick. My name is Skeleto, by the way. Skeleto? Skeleto? Yeah.

Stoleta. Are you going to be back here tonight? I'm looking at a card or something. Oh, yeah, I'm working all night, so. Yeah. You'll see me. I'll be out here all night. All right, man.

Fresh hand, man, and I'll grab a card for you and give it to you, man. Cool. All right. And what's your name here? Austin Trask. Sorry, you know. Trask. But here's the thing.

Something felt off. The officers seemed to notice that. that his flashlight was seemingly positioned behind his firearm holster. That's a problem because it would make it very, very difficult, if not impossible, to draw his weapon. And his body camera looked like not the standard one from Axon. And the story about working security at the Salvation Army while being an active detective, that seemingly raised eyebrows. So the next day, officers went back to the Salvation Army.

they ask him to produce a commission card. It's the official ID that proves your law enforcement. Okay, see another in your neighborhood team, please. Does he work in security for you? Yeah. That guy is? I'll be bad sure. Are you good?

I'm good. You want to come back over here? Yeah. I was just talking to some of the guys. So you work for Edmund's PDF? I do. Yeah, and this is a part-time gig. Gotcha. Do you have your commission card with you today? Yeah, give me a minute.

No, didn't find it? Sorry? No, he's going to, it's in my other bag. Oh, okay. He's grabbing it now. Okay, how long have you been working for the Salvation Army? Sorry? How long have you been working on updating for the Salvation Army?

I'm here almost every other week. Every other week? Yeah, and then I'll also work down at the KRAM. Okay. And what's your phone name? Mezi Skeletta. M-E-Z-Z-Y, S-C-A-L-E-T-A. So your first name is M-E-Z-Y?

M-E-Z-Y, correct. And Scoletta? S-C-A-L-E-T-A. Okay, what's your mill initial? Anthony. As soon as he gets back up. What's a good friend number for you? Hey, man.

Yeah, it's going to be the green bag. And it's got the, my wallet with the credentials and everything. on the side of us. And they, no, the upstairs, upstairs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My body. My apology, thank you.

Can you? Search. Can you stay over? All right, I'll see you a minute. So, Scolette is accused of stalling. Credentials were in his bag. They were upstairs. Then he allegedly started digging through a lunch bag

that only had Coca-Cola's and an empty bag. So the officers move in. They pat him down and this is when they find a loaded firearm. Is it a loaded firearm that you have with you, Mr. Scoletta? Correct. Okay, can you put your hands on the car, please? I'm not familiar with the retention of this whole search, keep your hands are there. Can we not do this in front of everybody? I mean, really? Yeah.

You're doing just like keeping your hands on that. Okay, yeah. I appreciate it. As soon as y'all are getting any other firearm down there. No, sir. Okay. So you're not under a rep right now? Oh, that's your same.

Yes, sir? Do you call my, yeah, we can take care of all that. Yes, we can take care of all. We can make all the phone calls and use me double that. All right. And so, it's credentials. What agency do you say you were with? Edmund.

You're with that. Edmund, that's, okay. Do you understand me just being the tenure here? I understand the whole process. Yes, I did. Okay. Yes, please. Mr. Skeletta, the other rights for remain silent.

Anything you say it can be used against you in the court of law. for the rights time to talk to the lawyer and having present with you while you've been questioned. Now if I'd afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed to represent you before any question if you wish. You'd decide at any time to exercise these rights, not answer any questions or making any sense to understand. Answer on face me, please. We pretend that I'm in. Say, go ahead. You're ready.

No, I'm hearing them. Lesson of Skeletia. Sam, Charles, Adam, Lincoln, Edward, Tom, Tom, Tom, Adam. First of Mezie, Mary Edward Zebra, Zebra, Young, Middle A. 1976 0810. Mizzi A. Scoleta is what he gave me? Yeah, that's what I wrote down from the report. I'm sorry?

What did you say, analyst? Is it okay if I check your first? Absolutely, please, grab my credentials and everything out there. Where is it at? In your front? Actually, is it to... Hey, where the radios are? Go ahead.

All the other... Dog. It's there. Sorry. Her name's Michael. St. Mettelata-P-P-D-Pez. Same day to birth. He's returning with a DOL record out of Lacey. No valid driver's license.

When they ran his information, here's what reportedly came back. Skeletta was a convicted felon. Back in 2016, he had a served time for a felony bomb hoax out in North Carolina. He didn't even have a valid driver's license. And when they called Edmunds, PD, they reportedly said he doesn't even work there. So what made this case particularly alarming

after everything I'm saying was that Skeletta wasn't just, you know, allegedly wearing the costume. According to police, he had been actively responding to calls. Earlier that same night, he'd shown up to a trespassing caller was accused of showing up to a trespassing call at a 7-Eleven. He was accused of essentially patrolling the downtown corridor, armed, wearing a police vest, inserting himself into real life law enforcement situations. I'm running out of your batheer, too. Did you, did you read him yet? Yeah, I read him.

Okay. He did. Okay. So. Okay. What was your first time? Messy. I'm EZZ Y.

Menz. I'm sure. So you understand why you're detained right now or no? I don't know. I think I can. Why you did go on what you're going? Okay. It's okay if I explained some of it?

Sure. Okay, so first off, if you are a commissioned police officer in this state, you'll be taken out of cuffs, and I will formally apologize. Thank you. No problem. All right. Here's a couple problems, though. I'm one of the supervisors in the city right now. If Salvation Army is hiring uniformed commission law enforcement, who's going to be carrying badge, gun, vest, especially not in our agency.

As far as I'm concerned, let me just, let me finish. First of all, I did not have a weapon on while I was on duty. And I did, I was leaving. on law duty, I was leaving. Okay. Okay. So that's number one. Let him explain. Let him explain. Sure. Go ahead. So if you're us, and especially for your law enforcement, we understand, we see a guy

detective badge, police badge. I think there's a SWAT badge somewhere. Yeah. On there as well. Right. In our jurisdiction, and we haven't been notified that, hey, Salvation Army is about armed law enforcement. That's not true. You might have just been going from your employment to your car. However, when we came across

you, right, your uniformed in arm. When we came across it. That's an accurate still. So the concern is, the concern is, especially because we weren't given notification, right? I'm not operating. I'm not doing, I'm not working. I'm not. Well, here's the problem.

Leaving. Well, it's messy, right? Correct. Here's the problem is that you're leaving. Even if you're leaving, Salvation Army, this is the number one crime hotspot in the entire city for us. I know. Let me tell. I'm a retired Baltimore city.

Okay. 27 years. I come out here. Okay. Then let me talk. Then let me talk. Well, I don't, I think we're not, we're getting our wires crossed a little bit because what I'm trying to get you to understand is I understand that you're just leaving if you're off duty but if you know that this is the highest prime area right if you know this is the highest primary in the city and you know that that's likely to your law enforcement's doing that we're going to be in the area probably not the best idea to be wearing a vest armed going to and from yeah because it's going to make us think so well up to and including possible criminal impersonation of a police officer that's why you're detained we get all that checked out and you know what this might be an

error for their bosses and our bosses because if this is all true right and we weren't and we just weren't notified that that's what could have solved this as an email saying hey just so you know there's a guy he's law enforcement he's being hired off duty of Salvation Army you may see him come and go from the parking that's what we'd say sounds good we've heard nothing okay have you have you heard anything about this no have you heard anything about this so we met of Paul deadman's last night did they share what we would have called Edmonds PD last night yeah not on a payroll say it again yeah we're not on the pay roll we called Is it okay if I, if I go through this?

Yes, peace. Give it and then I can. There's, there's, one, that's something like that. That's, that's, it, no, it's the, one with the Gatorade, the electrolytes, to the spare XTS battery. It's a extra rate.

It's the one of the spare XTS battery in it. And even after being confronted, Skeleta seemingly kept, insisting he was a cop. He allegedly told the officers to check his credentials, to call his command. But when one of the supervisors laid out the facts or the alleged facts, Edmonds PD said he was never on their payroll. Their database showed a felony conviction. And he'd been rolling up or accused of rolling up to active seams armed in full tactical gear. And that is when Skeletta seemingly finally invoked his right to remain silent. He was booked into jail on charges of

first degree criminal impersonation and second degree on lawful possession of a firearm. And at his court hearing in September of 2025, he pleaded not guilty. Judge set his bail at $50,000. And as of the latest available records, his case remained pending with no public update on whether it went to trial or resolved to a plea. But what a case to say the least. But now we go to our final case. Maybe the strangest one of all?

Because the person pretending to be someone they weren't wasn't wearing a badge or a uniform, she was wearing a high school basketball jersey. Shelby, and by the way, Shelby, at the time all this went down, was a 30-something-year-old social worker. But for months, she was living a double life so bizarre that it left the whole school district asking, how on earth did we miss this? Let me set the seam. It's the 2022-2020 school year. A new student shows up at Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and that school is now called Albert D. Holland High School, just so you know. And the student says her name is Daniela, Daniela Herrera, and she's a 16-year-old foster kid. She's quiet. She's got this

tough backstory, joins the girls' basketball team. Everyone thinks she's just a new student trying to fit in. Here's the thing. Daniela was actually Shelby Hewitt. She wasn't 16. She was in her 30s, and this wasn't a one-off thing. And as investigators started digging, they realized that between September 2022 and June 2023, Shelby had used multiple fake identities to enroll in at least three different high schools. She was apparently so committed to the bit that she created fake documents, weaving this whole narrative that she was just this kid in the Massachusetts foster care system. Now, the details here are what really get me because at Burke High,

she didn't just sit in the back of the class. She joined the basketball team. She picked Jersey number 32, which, you know, you got to think about it. That was a real age at the time. It's a little on the nose, right? You'd get a call for what it is. But it gets wilder. She eventually requested a transfer to Brighton High School. And then in June of 23, she tried to enroll at English High School in Jamaica Plain, this time posing as a 13-year-old under a different name. So within a year, she went from a 16-year-old foster kid to a 13-year-old with a whole new backstory. Now, how did she finally get caught? It's actually a pretty small

detail that seemingly unraveled the whole thing because according to reporting from NBC10 Boston, a man shows up at English high school claiming to be her dad saying he was pulling her out because she was being bullied. But the school administrators reportedly thought that was odd. She had only been enrolled for a week and they were literally in the middle of trying to help with the bullying situation. So they did what they were supposed to do. They called the school district to verify some of her enrollment paperwork. And that is when they found errors. They tried to call the social worker that was listed on her forums. Guess what?

That person didn't exist. And here's the thing. The students had started to notice something was off. Way before the paperwork did, by the way. Some of her classmates said her stories just didn't always line up. Now, at first they chalked it up to, you know, claiming to have a traumatic pass. She told people she had been abused and trafficked,

which might explain the inconsistencies. But then according to the Boston Globe, some students did a little digging. And what do they find? They found Shelby Hewitton. actual yearbook photo from when she went to Sharon High School back in 2007. Imagine being a teenager and realizing the person sitting next to you in class was using a photo from when they were your age.

But that photo was taken 15 years earlier. Now, no word on if the man allegedly pretending to be Hughitt's dad was ever found her charge, but Shelby was arrested and arrest warrant was issued in June of 2023. She turned herself in. She was released on a $5,000 bomb, strict condition. She couldn't go near any schools. or contact the people there. Mass Live spoke with a woman who attended

at Burke High School at the same time as Hewitt and actually befriended her. She told the outlet, it just makes me hard to trust people. It makes me question, is this person or is this just like another Shelby? Moving forward, I think a lot of students are going to continue to feel betrayal.

Even though it happened three years ago, they would never forget how that made them feel at the time. That's the big part. That's the harm here. And according to her, Hewitt became friends with students ages 13 through 16. And get this at the same time that she was pretending to be a high schooler, ostensibly going to classes and playing sports, making friends with actual children. She was also employed by the Department of Children and Families as a social worker herself, collecting her $54,000 a year salary while posing as a teenager.

She also reportedly created fake identities for DCF workers to help with the enrollment process. And it wasn't just at school that Hewitt was reportedly pretending to be a teen. She also apparently used her DCF resources to enroll in Walden behavioral care for an eating disorder. You're talking about a clinic in dead in Massachusetts where she once again claimed to be Daniela Herrera. Now, Hewitt no longer worked for DCF, but the exact circumstances surrounding her leaving, whether she was fired or quit, never made clear. But after several delays, Hewitt was supposed to go to trial in Suffolk County Superior Court. But instead, the court announced that a plea agreement had been reached. My understanding is that there is an agreed upon disposition in this case for a plea of guilty.

I have had the opportunity already to review your Board of Probation Record. I'm fully familiar with this case, as you know, and I've already had the opportunity to look at the guidelines here. So what we're going to do is we're going to move forward with that process, okay? So Hewitt, now 34, pled guilty February 3, 26 to charges of forgery, fraud, violating public impoverly. employee conduct standards. Four other charges were dismissed. And Hewitt's attorney, he told the court that his client had long-term mental health problems, that she had started receiving treatment. Hewitt herself addressed some of those issues during her statement. Thank you, Your Honor, for letting me speak. I'm truly sorry for the harm that I know that I have caused,

and I recognize that my conduct disrupted the Boston Public Schools and caused confusion alarm. and probably fear to students, families, and staff. I should never have been there. And through my actions, I violated the trust of the school community, my family, and everybody in my life that loved me. And I am deeply sorry for the pain that I caused and I carry a lot of shame every day regarding it. And so I am, I was not.

being a good person. And I am continuing intensive mental health treatment, medication, and counseling to try to be a better one. And I know that that doesn't undo the harm that I know that I caused, but I accept full responsibility and I hope that anyone I hurt can heal from it. And I'm very truly sorry for my incredibly selfish decisions. And in the end, Hewitt was ordered to serve four years of probation for each guilty plea, which were served concurrently, so at the same time, and if the sentences had been consecutive, she would have faced 20 years of supervision. She also had to pay more than $9,000 in restitution. Now, as part of her probation, she had to continue getting therapy and taking any medication she was prescribed and stay away from all

Boston public schools. She couldn't work as a social worker, and she couldn't seek a social worker's license. But that wasn't the end of the story. No, there were still a lot of questions surrounding how this could have happened, especially when you learn that Hewitt had at one point moved in with her longtime therapist, who allegedly sat alongside her as she enrolled. Yeah, that's another part of this case. So according to the Boston Globe, Rebecca Burnett, also sometimes called Becky, a licensed clinical social worker and former supervisor at Walden Behavioral Care apparently faced disciplinary action.

Burnett expressed shock when the allegations against Hewitt came out, but many questioned how much she actually knew about Hewitt's true background. But prosecutors alleged that Hewitt told Burnett and other Walden employees that she was so traumatized from being trafficked as a child, she couldn't remember her real age. But the Globe reported that Hewitt had actually been enrolled at Walden Behavioral Care before using her real name, her true identity. And anonymous employees and former patients claim there was no way Burnett wouldn't have remembered her.

And why did she allegedly let Hewitt move in with her? Right? That's at some point. Hewitt apparently posing as a foster child moved in with Burnett and her partner, a man named John Smith. So that's strange, right, that allegation? I mean, you could be talking about a potential ethical violation, patient therapists living together.

But Burnett's lawyer, Connie Tran, told the Globe after Hewitt's arrest, quote, Hewitt utilized various fabricated personas to deceive Walden BPS, and Rebecca into believing she was in fact a child who is legally in DCF's custody. Tran also claimed Rebecca did not facilitate Shelby Hewitt's enrollment into BPS. Rather, Hewitt undertook this action independently. But school administrators pushed back, insisting, just didn't track. Reporter Patricia Wen wrote in a 2024 Boston Globe article, quote, they say burnout was present either on Zoom or in person to complete enrollment paperwork in August of

2022 for 16-year-old Daniela Herrera and then in June 2023 for 13-year-old Ellie Blake. Officials say Burnett's use of a second name in the school system, Ellie, raises questions about how certain she was about the truth of the first one, Daniela. So according to the Globe, at least six complaints were filed against Burnett with the state social worker board after Hewitt's arrest. And she no longer worked for Walden behavioral, though the Globe reported that people they contact at the clinic. wouldn't confirm if she'd been fired.

Her attorney for her social work licensing, Paul Sorrell, told the Boston Globe that hearings on her case were expected to begin in the summer of 2026. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock. If you want to follow me, X Instagram, my News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next time, everybody.

You know.