A 27-year-old man pretended to be a Nebraska high school student to prey on teenage girls. As a result, he was sentenced to 85 to 120 years in prison, according to multiple reports.
Identified as Zachary Scheich, and known by peers as 17-year-old “Zak Hess,” the man disguised himself as a high school student for more than 50 days to exploit and sexually assault multiple girls, with some being as young as 13, according to the Washington Post and KOLN.
Scheich was sentenced on Sept. 11 on charges of sexual assault, child enticement with electronic communication and generating sexually explicit images of children, the Washington Post reported.
The extensive sentence comes after Scheich pleaded no contest in July as part of a plea deal to reduce the number of felony counts against him from 15 to five.
“The children you exploited were not equipped to protect themselves because they thought you were their peer,” Lancaster District Judge Darla S. Ideus said during the sentencing hearing, per the Washington Post.
Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Amber Schlote added that the harm Scheich caused to victims were immeasurable, and resulted in the girls missing school, suffering failing grades, experiencing anxiety and shame, and developing a deep mistrust of adults.
“It has undeniably altered their life’s trajectories,” Schlote said, according to the Washington Post.
Due to his height of 5 feet 4 inches and 120 lbs. stature, Scheich was able to blend in with the student body and attended multiple schools throughout the Lincoln Public Schools District.
Even though Scheich looked like a student, he actually graduated from the district back in 2015, according to what Lincoln Police Department Assistant Chief Brian Jackson said during a July 2023 news conference.
Scheich was caught amid an investigation that kicked off on June 1, when the school district contacted Lincoln police after it had discovered that someone was impersonating a student during the 2023-2024 school year using the name Zak Hess.
Scheich, who was disguised as Hess, enrolled at Northwest High School during the first semester as a junior and later transferred to Southeast High School during the second semester. It wasn’t long before investigators uncovered that Hess was a 26-year-old man who had already graduated. He attended the schools under the fake name for 54 days.
He was then arrested in July 2023.
Lincoln Public Schools then sent out an alert to families at Northwest and Southeast high schools, giving the a timeline of everything that happened from October 2022 to July 2023, according to documents provided to USA Today.
Along with Scheich, a 23-year-old woman also faces criminal impersonation charges related to the case. Angela Navarro pleaded not guilty, claiming that she was manipulated by Scheich, KOLN reported.
She was arrested on Sept. 29, 2023.
Navarro, who was 22 at the time, posed as Scheich’s mother under the fake name “Danielle Hess” to attend meetings with school counselors, KOLN said, per an arrest affidavit. She remains free on bond and is awaiting trial.
According to officials, school administrators said the district follows state and federal requirements for enrolling students, which can be done online or in person. Whether someone applies online or in person, the district requests a birth certificate, physicals, immunization records and transcripts.
Scheich exploited the enrollment process by using fake documents. As a result, enrollment processes will be reviewed.
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Publish date : 2024-09-18 09:03:00
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