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Woman cons Harvard
08/01/2007 21:14 - (SA)
New York - A woman who stole other people's identities was able to dupe some of the top US universities into admitting her, enrolling at Harvard and Columbia, according to a published report.
Esther Elizabeth Reed, 28, attended Columbia University as a graduate student for two years under the name Brooke Henson before investigators learned of her scam, the New York Post reported on Monday.
The real Henson, of Travellers Rest, South Carolina, has been missing since 1999.
She was last seen leaving a Seattle courthouse, where she had faced charges of forging cheques allegedly stolen from her sister.
Investigators do not believe Reed had anything to do with Henson's disappearance.
Studied criminology
Reed used sophisticated scams to steal other identities to gain entrance to California State University at Fullerton, Harvard and Columbia, where she studied criminology and psychology, investigators told the newspaper.
Police got wind of her scam for the first time last June, when she tried to get a job as a housekeeper in Manhattan using Henson's name, birthday and government-issued social security number.
When her prospective employer did a search, the first thing she found was a missing-persons website created by Henson's family.
She then contacted police.
Authorities later found an identification card identifying her as Natalie Bowman - an identity she allegedly had stolen earlier and used to attend Cal State and Harvard.
- AP
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