New details and allegations emerged Wednesday in the case of a 22-year-old Forest Lake man who White Bear Lake Area High School officials say enrolled as a student using a fake identity.
White Bear Lake Police Chief Dale Hager said they continue to investigate what high school principal Russell Reetz told families Tuesday was a man who “appears to have provided fraudulent documentation and a false identity to enroll.”
Investigators are pursuing possible criminal violations related to fraud, forgery and unlawful conduct involving interaction with minors, Hager said.
Court records show that in March the man was convicted of gross-misdemeanor indecent exposure in Washington County for sending a 15-year-old girl a nude picture of himself through Snapchat in July 2023. He was sentenced to a year of probation.
The man was arrested by Plymouth police on Sunday on warrants from past theft convictions in Anoka County and for allegedly violating conditions of his probation in July in the Washington County case. He was booked into the Anoka County jail and remained there until Wednesday, when he was transferred to the Washington County jail.
The Pioneer Press generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.
‘Absolutely nuts’
State Rep. Elliott Engen, R-Lino Lakes, whose district includes communities served by the White Bear Lake school district, said the man posed as a 17-year-old student, even making this year’s football team. Engen provided the Pioneer Press a copy of the team’s roster that lists the man as KJ Perry, a 5-foot-10-inch, 165-pound senior cornerback.
“This whole thing is absolutely nuts,” Engen said.
Engen said he heard about the man Tuesday morning after his brother, who is a senior at White Bear Lake Area High School, called to tell him that “there’s been a 22-year-old man posing as a student. He said, ‘And a bunch of my friends knew of him as KJ. I’ve seen him pass by in the halls.’ ”
Engen said he did a “deep dive” on the man and found his real name and background. He said he’s also heard “from a slew of parents and students that are reaching out and saying that this is so ridiculous.”
Engen noted families were told that staff members, families and students “saw something and decided to report it.”
Engen said he puts the blame on White Bear Lake Area Schools Superintendent Wayne Kazmierczak. On Tuesday, he sent Kazmierczak a letter calling for his immediate resignation.
“This failure represents a catastrophic lapse in basic enrollment verification protocols, student safety measures and administrative oversight, which are core responsibilities that fall squarely under your leadership as superintendent,” Engen’s letter reads.
Engen alleged in the letter than the man, while posing as a student, exposed students to unnecessary danger, “undermining the trust families put in our education system.”
Engen said Wednesday that “what I’ve gathered, from several sources, was that the man’s motive “was to continue having tight-knit circles with girls.”
Kazmierczak and school district spokeswoman Marisa Vette did not respond to a request to comment on Engen’s letter.
Principal Reetz told families Tuesday that “we have determined that while enrolling this individual we followed our enrollment process, which is as rigorous as state law allows.”
He added, “We take all concerns seriously, and appropriate steps are taken any time there is a potential threat to student safety.”
Ryan Bartlett, the high school’s football coach, did not respond to a request for comment.
Former Forest Lake, Centennial student
Engen gave the Pioneer Press a previous season’s football roster for Forest Lake Area High School that lists the man’s real name.
Forest Lake school district spokeswoman Renae Reedy confirmed to the Pioneer Press that the man was a student at Forest Lake Area High School from January 2022 to early January 2023 and that he played football “for some of the 2022 season.”
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Centennial School District confirmed to the Pioneer Press that the man had attended Centennial Area Learning Center from early September 2023 to mid-December of that year. He then participated until late May 2024 in the district’s online program designed for students who need to make up credit toward their diploma. “He did not graduate from the Centennial School District and did not play football for Centennial High School,” the spokeswoman said in an email.
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Engen said a mother of a student approached him outside White Bear Lake Area High School about the man. She was in tears, Engen said, and told him that last week she hosted a party for her daughter and her friends after the Homecoming football game. The man showed up unannounced and uninvited, causing the woman’s son to tell him they did not want him to be there.
“Her son said, ‘Leave. You’re creepy.’ So the guy had to leave,” Engen said. “So it was a well-known thing amongst these kids what this guy was up to.”
Mary Divine contributed to this report.
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