Well, this is creepy, and weird, and gross:
A 26-year-old Nebraska man accused of posing as a high school student at two different schools has been arrested on sex crime charges, police said.
Zachary Scheich, of Lincoln, faces three felony charges -- two counts of sexual assault, use of an electronic device, and one count of sex trafficking of a minor -- following what started as a fraud investigation, Lincoln police said.
Imagine starting off a case like this thinking it's just a simple matter of some oddball committing identity fraud, and then you uncover something ten times worse. It's gotta be a nasty shock for the detectives.
Scheich allegedly posed as a student named "Zak Hess," enrolling himself at Northwest High School starting last year. He purportedly "blended in" with the other students and subsequently made "multiple contacts" with underage targets.
Scheich was reported as standing at 5'4" and weighing 120 pounds, a pretty typical build for a high school boy. No wonder he was able to "blend in."
(Gross.)
He purportedly attended "approximately 54 total days of school" during his time as a fraudulent student, at one point even transferring to another school using what the local superintendent called "convincing, fake documentation."
He received a bond of 10% of $250,000 on Friday. If he makes bond, the court ordered him to have no contact with minors and said he was barred from using any device with Internet access.
And in what has to be the most comically understated news item of the year, we learn:
School officials said they are reviewing their enrollment processes and protocols in light of the incident.
I sure hope so!
