Michelle Delfi News Today

A ‘millionaire’ social worker has been accused of posing as a troubled 13-year-old girl to trick a family into adopting her.

Why did a state social worker pose as a teen in three Boston schools and a treatment center? And how could nobody notice for so long?

Shelby Hewitt, also known as Ellie Blake, 13, conned her way into three high schools and a treatment center and the home of a couple who acted as foster parents.

For six months ahead of the 2022-23 school year, former DCF social worker Shelby Hewitt laid groundwork of false identities and intricate fictions of special education needs and emotional trauma for six months, Suffolk prosecutors outlined -- all to con her way into high school.

Shelby Hewitt, a former state social worker who allegedly posed as a Boston Public Schools student and attended multiple city schools pretended to be a “traumatized” teen in the custody of the Department of Children and Families, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Prosecutors say Shelby Hewitt, 32, enrolled in Boston schools and posed as both a ninth grade and seventh grade student.

Boston Public Schools had no comment on Hewitt’s arraignment, nor did it offer any details on how such a thing will be prevented in the future.

A 32-year-old woman in Boston is facing charges after posing as a high school student at three different schools in the city, authorities said.