A young mother who went viral for recording herself impersonating her 13-year-old daughter at her school in order to prove a point was recently found guilty of criminal trespassing.

On November 15, a jury sentenced Casey Garcia to six months of probation and ordered her to pay a fine of $700 in connection to a 2021 incident where she attended classes at San Elizario Middle School disguised as her teenage daughter, in order to show how easy it was for an adult to enter the school. The mother, who was 30 years old at the time, dyed her hair, put on skin tanner, and wore a hoodie and a face mask in order to pass for her 13-year-old daughter and gain access to the school. She recorded the controversial experiment and posted the video on social media where it got a lot of attention but ultimately led to her arrest.

Photo: Casey Garcia/YouTube

In the viral video titled “Why I posed as my 13-year-old daughter. A raw but real answer.”, Garcia said that after putting on her rudimentary disguise, she went to the school, where someone just checked her ID and asked her if she had signed in yet, before allowing her inside. The mother claimed that security was more concerned about her smartphone being out than with checking her real identity. She was able to attend classes like a regular teenager.

“I bet you anything someone else can do this,” Garcia says in the video. “This is why I did this — whether you agree with me or not.”

Garcia was allegedly able to attend all classes without anyone asking her any questions, except for the last period, when the teacher asked her to stay behind, and recognized her voice when she answered.

“I mean, I’m no spring chicken, but it wasn’t hard,” Casey said in the video. “And I made it to all seven periods, until the last teacher, she was female, and she said, ‘Julie, can you stay after class?’ And I said absolutely. She looked at me and she (said), ‘You’re not Julie.”

The young mother explains that she only impersonated her daughter to expose “the dangers of our schools” and to “protect my children and yours”, adding “If you want to come after me for that, there’s really nothing else I can say.”

And come for her they did. The incident was reported to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office by San Elizario Independent School District officials, and Casey Garcia was arrested on June 4, 2021. She actually recorded the moment deputies came to her home to arrest her and posted it on YouTube as well…

 

Earlier this month, Garcia was sentenced to six months of probation, 100 hours of community service, and a $700 fine.