A 22-year-old man allegedly used a false id and lied about his age to enroll in a Minnesota highschool and be part of the soccer workforce, as college students claimed the district “failed us.”
Kelvin Luebke was arrested Sunday after officers at White Bear Lake Excessive Faculty found he allegedly used fraudulent paperwork to enroll as a senior, Alpha Information reported.
In a letter to oldsters on Tuesday, Principal Russell Reetz said that a person “over the age of 21” had evaded the district’s safety measures to grow to be a scholar on the faculty.
“Upon our preliminary investigation, we’ve decided that whereas enrolling this particular person, we adopted our enrollment course of, which is as rigorous as state legislation permits,” he mentioned.
Reetz didn’t determine Luebke — who glided by “KJ” — a scholar from the highschool confirmed that he was the suspect in query, in accordance with Alpha Information.
The scholar additionally revealed that Luebke was on the soccer workforce’s roster.
The principal confirmed to oldsters that the suspect appeared “to have supplied fraudulent documentation and a false id to enroll.”
White Bear Lake Excessive Faculty required enrollees to submit three required paperwork to the varsity: verification of beginning date (beginning certificates), proof of tackle (driver’s license or utility invoice), and immunization information.
It’s unclear what age Luebke was utilizing on the false paperwork.
Reetz additionally assured dad and mom that Luebke was banned from district property.
“Please relaxation assured that the security and well-being of all college students is our prime precedence. I’m grateful to the employees members, households and college students who noticed one thing and determined to report it,” he wrote within the electronic mail.
The district is constant its investigation and is working intently with White Bear Lake Police Division, Reetz mentioned.
Luebke is at the moment being held in Anoka County Jail on expenses of theft and lewdness, Alpha Information reported.
The invention {that a} grown man was posing as a highschool scholar round youngsters has shaken dad and mom and college students
“I’m scared that they’re not maintaining our youngsters secure. I don’t perceive how this man bought into my child’s faculty,” mum or dad April Jorgenson instructed CBS Information as she broke down in tears, over the truth that Luebke allegedly was round kids.
“You might want to have a document and you want to have a bodily to do these actions. We simply can’t work out how this occurred.”
An unidentified scholar mentioned they imagine the “district failed us.”
“The individuals who have been overseeing this challenge and let this slip previous, they should face the results,” the nameless scholar instructed the outlet.
Minnesota legislation states that college students can legally enroll in public faculty any time earlier than turning 21 — even after age 17 — so long as they dwell within the district and comply with the foundations, which means older college students can nonetheless enter highschool.
College students who flip 21 midyear can often end the varsity yr, if the districts permit them, and people in particular schooling might keep till 22 in the event that they qualify beneath federal legislation.
Final yr, an grownup Venezuelan migrant was arrested after he was accused of pretending to be a 16-year-old boy so he may enroll in an Ohio highschool and was concerned within the faculty’s swimming and soccer packages.
Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra, 24, falsely offered himself as an unaccompanied minor and enrolled at Perrysburg Excessive Faculty, southwest of Toledo.
Sierra was enrolled on the faculty for 14 months earlier than faculty officers found his precise age in January 2024.
