Casey Garcia greeted the principal and faculty, ate lunch in the cafeteria without a mask and made it almost all the way to the last class period while impersonating her 13-year-old daughter at an El Paso County, Texas, middle school before getting busted.
Garcia was arrested on Friday for criminal trespass and tampering with government records after posts she made on social media documenting her impersonation went viral. Records show her bond was nearly $8,000 and she was released later on Friday.
Garcia, at 4 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing 105 pounds, insists she wasn’t doing it to break the law or gain notoriety, but as a “social experiment” to expose the vulnerability of students due to lack of safety protocols. She specifically spoke of mass shootings in schools.
“There have been way too many mass shootings. The first one should have never happened. We need metal detectors. I don’t think backpacks are a good idea.....I’m telling you right now, we need better security at our schools," she says in the video. "This is what I tried to prove. “I kind of feel like I proved it.”
Her actions caused a stir. She thought it was rude that someone commented online that she looked more like 35 than 30, and some thought her actions were “weird.”
“Are you more concerned that I, a parent, was sitting next to your child or do we really want to wait for the next person taking their Second Amendment right to the extreme?” she said.
She says if she can help prevent another school shooting by her push for metal detectors and improved security, then all the hate that has been directed at her will have been worth it.
Garcia said she was asked for her school ID number and to sign in, but school staff paid little attention to her presence. She said they were more concerned with her phone being out than who she was.
“I think the deal breaker for me was actually walking in and posing as a seventh-grader. I mean, I’m no spring chicken, but it wasn’t hard. 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.”
Source info at WaPo, Heavy, and El Paso Times