A pint-sized 26-year-old Nebraska man posed as teenage student to “blend in” at two high schools last year — and now he’s been nabbed on sexual assault and sex trafficking charges, officials alleged.
Using the alias Zak Hess, Zachary Scheich pretended to be a 17-year-old junior to enroll at Northwest High School in Lincoln and then transferred to Southeast High School to commit the alleged crimes, the Journal Star reported, citing local police.
“I’ve been in the district for 10 years, and this is the first time that I can remember something like this happening,” Lincoln public schools security chief Joe Wright told WLKN.
Scheich “blended in with other students” and spent a total of 54 days at both schools during the 2022-23 academic year, Assistant Police Chief Brian Jackson said.
The diminutive suspect — who is 5-foot-4 and weighs 120 pounds — graduated from Southeast High in 2015, officials said.
Police began a fraud investigation on June 1 after receiving a tip about an alleged impersonator named Zak Hess, who contacted female students by phone or computers, KETV reported.
None of the alleged crimes occurred on school property, police said, adding that there is a list of suspected victims who have not yet been interviewed and that there could be more who have not been identified.
Scheich was arrested Thursday at a local library and charged with two counts of sexual assault using an electronic device and one count of sexual trafficking of a minor.
Lincoln Public Schools faced questions about how a man in his mid-20s managed to enroll in the first place.
Wright said the minimum requirements for enrolling in a public high school are a birth certificate, immunization records and transcripts – but the suspect allegedly provided fake documents.
The security director added that state law prohibits the district from adding other requirements.
“I don’t foresee any changes because of the requirements that we have to educate all kids,” Wright told KLKN. “But obviously, something like this makes us look to where we could go. We’ve just started that process.”
He told the Journal Star that the district has a “statutory responsibility” to educate all children 20 years old and younger.
“Some parents don’t vaccinate, some homeschooled kids don’t have transcripts when they come in, we have kids from across the world who come in who don’t have birth records,” Wright told the paper.
“What’s provided to us is sometimes not as thorough as we like or as proof positive as this kind of case would make you think, but that’s what’s required of us,” he added.
The district told parents in an email that it is reviewing enrollment procedures.
Scheich, who began attending Northwest on Oct. 20 and transferred to Southeast on Jan. 12, also was scheduled to attend summer school but did not, officials said.
Police declined to answer whether he had someone pose as a parent when he enrolled, the Journal Star reported.
Schools spokesperson Mindy Burbach told the outlet that Scheich’s attendance was “spotty,” adding that staff turnover and the amount of time since he graduated could have made it difficult for school officials to recognize him.
SOURCE: New york post
