Ukrainian man poses as Pennsylvania high school student

Ukrianian national Artur Samarin is in custody at a Harrisburg, PA, area prison after he posed as a high school student and fraudulently attended public school in the area.

He allegedly enrolled at Harrisburg High School as a freshman and was just a few months from graduation when people started to suspect he wasn’t who he claimed.

Police say he had a Pennsylvania driver’s licence in Potts’ name when he was arrested.

Asher Potts, a star student at Harrisburg High School, has been arrested after it was revealed he was actually a 23-year-old Ukrainian national named Artur Samarin.

Samarin was exposed on Tuesday following an investigation, and taken in on charges of identity theft and tampering with public records.

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ABC News reports that before he became Asher Potts, Samarin was a Ukrainian national who entered the United States with a three-month J1 Exchange Visa.

Police on Friday said additional arrests are expected in the case. When that expired, he applied for and was granted a tourist visa.

Police were alerted to Samarin by a tipster in December who alleged Samarin was an adult living illegally in the US and was having sexual relationships with female students. That visa expired on March 1, 2013.

Marcel McCaskill, a friend of Samarin, said: “It’s totally mind-blowing to me”.

In 2012, he began attending John Harris High School under the fake name, according to police.

He was also a member of the ROTC and Naval Sea Cadet Program.

In a statement Harrisburg School District has confirmed to Fox43 that they are aware of the arrest. “It’s a land of opportunity for all of us immigrants and this land provided me with opportunities”.

The investigation is ongoing and includes the U.S. Department of State, FBI, the Ukrainian Embassy and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I’m a criminal, unfortunately, but it is true”.