An Ohio teenager has been indicted after he posed as a representative of a state senator and gave a 45-minute speech about advocacy to a high school before he was discovered.
Republican Senator David Burke had been scheduled to speak at the high school in January, but 18-year-old Isaiah M. Aikens showed up in December saying that the senator had fallen ill and sent him in his place.
“This person showed up in advance and early, days early, and said that the senator had fallen ill and that he was there to take his place and speak,” Mohawk Local School District Superintendent Ken Ratliff explained.
Aikens dressed and acted the part, even showing up with a personal driver and dealer vehicle.
“He went to Reineke Ford, which is owned by Gil Reineke, a state representative, and represented himself the same way and asked for a car and was able to obtain that,” Ratliff said.
But a few weeks later, Burke himself showed up to give his speech, and the school realized something had gone wrong.
Members of the community are concerned by the breach, pointing out that Aikens could have taken a gun or drugs into the school. But Ratliff has promised that the school’s security is working on a way to prevent this from happening in the future.
“We’re gonna tighten that up. We’re gonna be more diligent in verifying who people are, who they’re there to see, are they there on time,” Ratliff promised. “And also, calling back to their office or the entity that they’re there representing, verify that they are indeed with that agency.”