Jailhouse Rock
Texas' oldest sophomore sentenced to summer in jail
Summer vacation will not be in session for one East Texas woman.
In May, news spread about Charity Anne Johnson, a 34-year-old woman arrested in Longview for pretending to be a 15-year-old high school sophomore. On Tuesday, nearly a month after her arrest, a Longview judge sentenced Johnson to 85 days in jail after she pleaded guilty to charges of failure to identify.
Officials at the school said that Johnson had enrolled in New Life Christian School in October of 2013. She said she was 15 years old and used the name "Charite Stevens." Johnson avoided providing a transcript at enrollment by saying she had previously been home-schooled.
It was only after Johnson was taken in by Tamica Lincoln in March that suspicions about her true age arose. Lincoln and Ray Ward, who was mentoring Johnson, eventually took their concerns to the police. Police arrested Johnson at an area apartment after she gave them a false name.
Since her May arrest, Johnson has served nearly a month in jail.