34-year-old arrested for posing as orphaned teen in Longview, Texas

LONGVIEW, Texas (KABC) -- A 34-year-old woman was arrested for posing as a high school student in Longview, Texas. The woman spent almost an entire school year enrolled as a sophomore at New Life Christian School.

Police said Charity Johnson was arrested early Tuesday morning after telling officers she was "Charite Stevens" and was born in November 1997. Police had been called to an apartment when the person Johnson was staying with said she no longer wanted her living there. Police gave Johnson a trespass warning.

During the investigation, police realized that she had given them a false name and birthdate. Police say she is 34, although jail records list her as 31.

According to investigators, she claimed she was orphaned and needed to find a place to live in March. The woman who took her in says Johnson told her she was abused by her biological father, who passed away when her mother died.

"I sympathized with her, and invited her into my home," said Johnson's guardian Tamica Lincoln. "I just don't know why she did it. Why put yourself and others at risk to do something like this."

The principal at New Life Christian School said Johnson enrolled in October with a guardian and filled out paperwork indicating she was 15. He said everyone involved with the school was convinced she was a teen, and she even had a fake Facebook page.

Johnson even fooled her 23-year-old boyfriend. Rickie Williams told KLTV, the ABC News affiliate in East Texas, that he had been dating Johnson since last summer, thinking she was an innocent teen.

"My best friend showed me and I was shocked," he told the station, adding that she told him she was 18 years old.

Johnson is being held in the Gregg County Jail on $500 bond.

ABC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.