A 30-year-old mother was arrested after posing as her teen daughter at a Texas middle school. Casey Garcia says she did it to prove a point for better security.

El Paso County Sheriff’s Office officials said deputies were notified by San Elizario Independent School District campus officials of Garcia trespassing and posing as a student.

Garcia filmed her experience in the school and posted the video on YouTube.

In the video titled “Going to school as my 13yr old daughter (Middle School edition)” she says, “Do I look like a seventh grader? No? Cool. Awesome.”

Garcia says that after she was asked for her ID number and asked whether she had signed in, she was allowed in the school.

No one noticed she wasn’t her daughter until the end of the day, when in seventh period a teacher asked her to stay after class. Garcia said, “She looked at me and she (said), ‘You’re not Julie.’”

“No, I’m not,” she says she replied. “I took off my mask, I took off my glasses, and I said, ‘No, I’m not Julie. I’m Julie’s mom.’”

Garcia was arrested on one count each of criminal trespass and tampering with government records, El Paso County Sheriff’s Office officials said. She also was arrested on an unrelated traffic warrant.

In a follow-up video Garcia made, she explains her motivation. “I’m telling you right now, we need better security at our schools,” she says. “This is about our children and the safety of our children. That’s all I’m trying to do is prevent another mass shooting.”

According to Sandy Hook Promise, the U.S. has had 1,316 school shootings since 1970.

About the Author

Keep Reading

Blue heron are just one of the hundreds of kinds of animals and plants that call the Okefenokee Swamp home. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Featured

The renovation of Jekyll Island's Great Dunes golf course includes nine holes designed by Walter Travis in the 1920s for the members of the Jekyll Island Club. Several holes that were part of the original layout where located along the beach and were bulldozed in the 1950s.(Photo by Austin Kaseman)

Credit: Photo by Austin Kaseman