Ukrainian man, 23, poses as US high school student for four years

A 23 year old Ukrainian man, Artur Samarin, has been arrested after his real age was exposed. Samarin had been posing as a high school student in the US state of Pennsylvania for four years, enrolled at Harrisburg High under the name “Asher Potts” after his visa expired in 2012.

Mr Samarin, who was pretending to be 18, was said to be an active member of the school community.
Police said he was in possession of a driver’s license using the Potts name at the time of his arrest, as well as a Social Security card obtained using a false birth date and now faces charges of theft, identity theft and tampering with public records.
Harrisburg School district official Kirsten Keys say he was an active student at the school.

Marcel McCaskill, who joined Mr Samarin on a seven-week science and maths programme at Penn State told AP it was “totally mind-blowing” to find out about his real identity.
“Honestly, he was a very respectable guy. He was the perfect role model, someone you would want your son to look up to.”
He was involved in food banks and cadet programmes, and was even on the panel of a forum discussing youth violence in the greater Harrisburg area at the start of this year and was also presented with a certificate introducing him as “a new member of the National Honor Society”.