According to the family, the woman, who posed as a student from Boston, left the teen with bruises

A 34-year-old woman posing as a student at various Boston public schools tricked children into believing she was her friend and emotionally scarred them, a former high school student who met the woman said Tuesday.

“It makes it hard for me to believe people … (it makes me question) is this a person, or is it just another Shelby,” said Janelle Lamons, a former Burke High School student who was friends with an adult woman she believed to be her age during the 2022-23 school year.

“Going forward, I think a lot of students will continue to feel betrayed,” Lammons said. “Even though it was three years ago, they will never forget how they felt at that time.”

Shelby Hewitt, 34, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Suffolk County Superior Court to three counts of identity fraud, violating standards of conduct for public employees and forging documents. Three other charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

He was ordered to serve four years of probation for each guilty plea, to be served concurrently, and to pay more than $9,000 in restitution. So his trial scheduled for next week was cancelled.

Under his probation, Hewitt must continue his mental health treatment and prescribed medication, stay away from the child he stole while in the custody of the Department of Children and Families. She must stay away from all Boston public schools, cannot work as a social worker and is not allowed to seek a social work license.

After her guilty plea, Hewitt apologized in court and said she was “deeply sorry for the pain I have caused,” admitting her actions had “caused confusion, anxiety and fear for students, families and staff.”

“I should never have been there … I violated the trust of the school community, my family and everyone in my life who loved me,” Hewitt said. She added that she carries “shame every day” and “didn’t become a better person,” but continued her mental health treatment “to try to become a better one.”

Hewitt, who attended college and graduate-school, is a former social worker with the Department of Children and Families, most recently from December 2021 to February 2023. He assumed two different identities while posing as a student — one of them the identity of a real child in DCF care, prosecutors said.

“Both of the systems he undermined … are designed to care for and protect children,” Assistant District Attorney Ursula Knight said Tuesday.

In the fall of 2022, Hewitt — who was in her early 30s at the time — enrolled herself in ninth grade at Burke High School at age 16, prosecutors said. She then requested a transfer to Brighton High School and in early June 2023, enrolled herself again at English High School under a different name.

In order to enroll herself as a student, she also created DCF social worker identities complete with fake state website domains and profiles, according to prosecutors.

While attending classes in Boston schools, Hewitt presented as a child in need of special education services. She also enrolled for eating disorder care at Walden Behavioral Treatment Center through her false DCF social worker profiles.

Hewitt befriended the students, ages 13 to 16, telling them she was from Columbia and had a foster mother, Lammons said. These children were “very real” victims of his actions, Judge Debra Squire-Lee told Hewitt, who “thought you were their friend, they were helping you with your problems” and were “damaged.”

Outside court, Hewitt declined to tell reporters why he chose to pose as a student. Her attorney, Timothy Flaherty, said she was “a young woman with significant mental health concerns” and “a lifetime of emotional issues that dominated poor judgment.”

But for Lamons and her mother, Robin Williams, probation isn’t enough.

“For him to be on probation — it’s a disgrace … he’s a monster,” Williams said. She is seeking conversations with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, BPS Superintendent Mary Kaptain and Gov. Maura Haley about the situation, she said.

“We all have to come together and find a better solution, to make sure this doesn’t happen again, and to make sure the kids are safe,” Williams said.

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