Man accused of posing as homeless teen to enroll in school

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — A 21-year-old Georgia man who allegedly claimed to be a homeless teenager was arrested after providing false information to enroll in a high school as a 14-year-old student, authorities said.

The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office was called to a report of an “unruly juvenile” last week and discovered Abay Holmes fighting with a woman who was trying to take away his schoolissued laptop, Deputy Brandon Towe wrote in a report.

Capt. Brad King told McClatchy News the woman let Holmes, whom she thought was a homeless teen, stay at her home, but called police after the two got into a disagreement.

Investigators determined Holmes, who had enrolled at Baldwin High School under a fake name, did not have a legal guardian in Georgia. Authorities called the Department of Family and Children’s Services to place the teen in a temporary home, but school officials and deputies found discrepancies between names and addresses on his records.

Fingerprints proved he was actually an adult.

Holmes remained in jail Tuesday on charges including giving a false name, address and birthdate to a law enforcement officer, and giving false statements or writings to conceal facts or fraudulent documents, news outlets reported.

It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

Authorities did not immediately give a motive for why Holmes posed as a student, but King said he did not think Holmes was trying to “access school-aged kids.”