Woman gets 5 months in fake high school student case

HARRISBURG, Pa. – A woman who claimed to be the adoptive mother of a Ukrainian man posing as a Harrisburg High School student has been ordered to serve five months in prison.

A U.S. Middle District senior judge imposed the sentence on Stephayne McClure-Potts, who pleaded guilty earlier to Social Security fraud and harbouring someone in the country illegally.

Her husband, Michael Potts, was placed on two years’ probation after pleading guilty to harbouring someone in the country illegally. Both still face state charges.

Prosecutors said Artur Samarin, who overstayed his visa, used falsified documents to enrol as a freshman under a fake name when he was 19.

He was sentenced earlier on federal fraud charges and also for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old classmate, theft and tampering.