Shelby Hewitt | Social Worker Pretends to be 13-Years-Old and Enrolls in Seventh Grade

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[00:01:40] This is True Crime Psychology and Personality where we discuss the pathology behind some

[00:01:46] of the most horrific crimes and those who committed them from a scientifically informed

[00:01:50] perspective.

[00:01:51] I'm Dr. Todd Grande.

[00:01:54] I have a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision and I'm a licensed professional counselor

[00:02:00] of mental health.

[00:02:01] Dr. Todd Grande, that's my YouTube channel.

[00:02:04] Today's question is, can I analyze the case of Shelby Hewitt?

[00:02:09] First I'll look at the background of this case, move to the timeline of the crime, and

[00:02:13] offer my analysis.

[00:02:15] Shelby Hewitt was born on March 19, 1991 in the state of Massachusetts.

[00:02:21] Her parents Malcolm and Lorene Hewitt lived in the town of Sharon, which is 35 minutes

[00:02:26] south of Boston.

[00:02:28] Malcolm worked as a photographer and in fast food restaurants.

[00:02:32] Lorene worked for an investment company.

[00:02:35] The family had money problems and on multiple occasions, Shelby's father filed for bankruptcy

[00:02:40] relief.

[00:02:42] Shelby attended Sharon High School and initially seemed to be doing well.

[00:02:46] She was described as outgoing, goofy, and quirky.

[00:02:50] Later in high school she struggled academically and had difficulty regulating her emotions.

[00:02:56] Eventually she was enrolled in a program for students with mental health symptoms.

[00:03:01] After graduating from high school, Shelby enrolled in a local college known for counseling and

[00:03:06] social work programs.

[00:03:07] In 2013, she earned a bachelor's degree in human development and counseling psychology.

[00:03:14] In 2016, she earned a master's degree in school counseling from a different college.

[00:03:19] The Department of Children and Families, otherwise known as DCF, hired Shelby as a social worker.

[00:03:26] This is a little confusing because Shelby did not actually have social worker identity.

[00:03:31] Again, she studied school counseling.

[00:03:34] The reason she was referred to as a social worker is that's how DCF named the position.

[00:03:40] Anyone hired into that position, regardless of their background, would be called a social

[00:03:44] worker.

[00:03:46] Usually these positions require a master's degree in a related field.

[00:03:50] This happens to other professions as well.

[00:03:52] For example, some government agencies have a position called mental health counselor,

[00:03:57] but the position doesn't require having counselor identity.

[00:04:01] Anyone hired for the job is referred to as a mental health counselor.

[00:04:06] Shelby stayed in her social worker position with DCF until 2018 when she left the department

[00:04:12] for a few years.

[00:04:13] It's not clear why she left, but in 2018 both her mother and her maternal grandfather

[00:04:19] died a few months apart.

[00:04:22] Shelby received a substantial inheritance, which may have been over $1 million.

[00:04:28] On December 5, 2021, Shelby returned to DCF as a social worker with a salary of about

[00:04:34] $51,000 a year.

[00:04:36] The next day she went to the website godaddy.com and purchased the domain m-a-s-s-t-a-t-e dot

[00:04:46] u-s, like massstate.us.

[00:04:50] This domain was designed to be confused with the official state of Massachusetts domain

[00:04:55] state dot m-a dot u-s.

[00:04:58] Shelby then fabricated a DCF social worker named Michael Kronetsky and assigned him an

[00:05:04] official looking email address using the domain she purchased.

[00:05:09] Several months later, she invented another social worker named Michelle Delphi, giving

[00:05:14] her an email as well.

[00:05:17] Now moving to the timeline of the crime.

[00:05:20] In early 2022, while Shelby was still working at DCF, she enrolled herself at a treatment

[00:05:25] facility called Walden Behavioral Care.

[00:05:28] This facility specialized in treating eating disorders.

[00:05:32] There's nothing wrong with going to this type of facility, but Shelby did not enroll as

[00:05:37] herself.

[00:05:38] Rather, she used a fake identity, namely a 13-year-old homeless trafficking survivor

[00:05:45] named Ellie Alessandra Blake.

[00:05:47] 30-year-old Shelby tried to convince people she was 13, and she was incredibly successful.

[00:05:54] People at the facility believed that Shelby was Ellie Blake.

[00:05:58] A woman named Rebecca Bernat worked as a therapist at the facility.

[00:06:02] She had a master's degree in social work and was a licensed social worker.

[00:06:07] Eventually, Shelby, again posing as Ellie Blake, moved in with Rebecca and Rebecca's

[00:06:13] partner John Smith.

[00:06:15] The couple lived in a 1,300-square-foot condominium in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston.

[00:06:21] The authorities would later say that the couple did not go through the official foster care

[00:06:25] process.

[00:06:27] It appears as though Rebecca and John believed they were helping a teenage trauma victim.

[00:06:32] They did not know that Shelby was an adult pretending to be a teenager.

[00:06:37] In September 2022, Shelby started a new phase of her master plan.

[00:06:43] She transformed into a 16-year-old named Daniela Blake Herrera and enrolled at the

[00:06:47] Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester.

[00:06:52] Shelby allegedly forged documents to do this, but even with the forgeries, she did not have

[00:06:57] all the documentation necessary.

[00:06:59] She was able to exploit a federal law that allows children in foster care to be immediately

[00:07:05] enrolled in school even without initially presenting documentation.

[00:07:10] During the same month that she time-traveled and became a high school student again, Shelby

[00:07:14] used cash to purchase a $377,000 two-bedroom condominium in the town of Canton.

[00:07:22] Her classmates at the high school thought it was unusual that Shelby was driving a car

[00:07:27] and had other items that were not cheap, but for the most part, she managed to avoid rousing

[00:07:33] suspicion.

[00:07:34] Shelby even played on the basketball team, although she stepped away from the camera

[00:07:39] when the team photograph was captured.

[00:07:41] In April 2023, Shelby transferred to Brighton High School in Brighton, Massachusetts.

[00:07:48] At this point, she was still pretending to be Daniela.

[00:07:51] Using the domain that she purchased, Shelby sent emails from the fabricated social worker

[00:07:56] Michelle asking that Daniela's academic burden be reduced.

[00:08:01] Shelby was interested in more classes like gym or art and not happy about taking U.S.

[00:08:07] history, so Shelby was not motivated to learn anything in school.

[00:08:12] One could argue she was doing a pretty good job impersonating a typical high school student.

[00:08:17] In June 2023, Shelby left Brighton High School and tried something different.

[00:08:22] On June 8, she enrolled at the English High School in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood using

[00:08:27] the Ellie Blake identity.

[00:08:30] Shelby was pretending to be in the 7th grade, which was a grade offered in this high school.

[00:08:35] The school had grades 7 through 12.

[00:08:37] The students at the school appeared to be a little bit more alarmed by Shelby's appearance

[00:08:41] than students from the other schools.

[00:08:44] After all, Shelby had just dropped three more years from 16 to 13.

[00:08:49] The students wondered how hard her life must have been to look that way in the 7th grade.

[00:08:55] She must have had 13 hard years.

[00:08:58] They teased her saying that she looked like she was 30.

[00:09:02] The students, of course, were incorrect.

[00:09:04] Shelby was actually 32 at the time.

[00:09:08] On June 13, Shelby sent an email from the non-existent social worker Michelle to a guidance counselor

[00:09:14] at the English High School.

[00:09:16] The email talked about how the students were making fun of Ellie Blake.

[00:09:20] She was really sensitive about people commenting on her face and how she looked older.

[00:09:26] It was a huge trigger point for her.

[00:09:29] A genetic condition is what caused the older appearance.

[00:09:33] The principals talked to the offending students and tried to resolve the matter in a sensitive way.

[00:09:39] For whatever reason, Shelby was not satisfied.

[00:09:42] On the next day, June 14, John Smith picked up Ellie Blake from the school and said he

[00:09:48] was moving her to a private Catholic school in Brighton.

[00:09:52] Around this time, the principal of the school noticed that the domain used in Michelle Delphi's

[00:09:57] email was not the official one of state.ma.us.

[00:10:02] The school called DCF looking for Michelle Delphi, but of course she did not work there

[00:10:07] because Shelby had fabricated her.

[00:10:10] At this point, school officials contacted the police.

[00:10:13] When the police spoke to Shelby, she initially denied wrongdoing but then admitted that she

[00:10:18] was a fraud.

[00:10:19] She explained that she just wanted to have a family.

[00:10:22] The police found many forged documents in Shelby's bedroom.

[00:10:27] Shelby was arrested and charged with three counts of document forgery, two counts of

[00:10:31] common law forgery, and one count each of identity fraud, larceny over $1,200, uttering

[00:10:39] false or forged documents, and violating public employee standards of conduct.

[00:10:45] On February 6, 2023, Shelby resigned from her position at DCF, mostly because of the

[00:10:51] impersonating a high school student part.

[00:10:54] At the time I'm making this video, Shelby Hewitt is still facing charges.

[00:10:58] Her attorney stated that Shelby has a long and well-documented history of mental health

[00:11:04] challenges.

[00:11:05] Now moving to my analysis.

[00:11:08] Here are my thoughts on a few areas that stood out to me in this case.

[00:11:11] Item number one.

[00:11:13] During the entire time Shelby was pretending to be a 16-year-old and a 13-year-old, she

[00:11:18] continued to work full-time as a DCF social worker.

[00:11:22] These types of government agencies are notorious for two problems.

[00:11:27] The first one is overworking the social workers.

[00:11:30] The second one is losing track of the social workers.

[00:11:34] This position has the strange distinction of being a job where an employee can work

[00:11:38] themselves to death or simply disappear for a while.

[00:11:42] DCF social workers are not supervised very closely, and of course their clients are probably

[00:11:47] not going to say anything if the social workers don't show up.

[00:11:51] Many people don't want to be involved with DCF in the first place.

[00:11:55] Shelby's behavior exposed and embarrassed the leadership at DCF and raised serious questions

[00:12:00] about how taxpayer money is being spent.

[00:12:04] Item number two.

[00:12:05] When Shelby was in school as 16-year-old Daniela, she stood out more for her odd behavior than

[00:12:11] her older appearance.

[00:12:13] Students said that Shelby told stories about herself which were sometimes inconsistent.

[00:12:18] She complained that her foster mother was controlling and did not give her enough money

[00:12:22] for food.

[00:12:23] Shelby stated that she was homeless, yet she had her own car.

[00:12:27] She claimed that both her parents died from a drug overdose.

[00:12:31] In another version of her story, her father had drug problems and was in prison.

[00:12:36] Shelby said that she moved to the United States from Colombia, yet did not appear to speak

[00:12:40] Spanish.

[00:12:42] One would think that Shelby would have worked diligently to maintain her cover story, but

[00:12:46] she didn't make a great effort to stay in disguise.

[00:12:49] Later she made another mistake when she used the name Ellie Blake.

[00:12:52] This name was suspicious.

[00:12:53] It is a character from the 2018 Disney Channel musical adaptation of Freaky Friday, where

[00:13:00] a teenage girl and her mother switched bodies, forcing the mother to go to high school in

[00:13:05] her teenage daughter's body.

[00:13:08] Ellie Blake was the daughter.

[00:13:10] Item number three.

[00:13:12] The role that Rebecca and John played in this story is kind of a mystery.

[00:13:16] They have never been charged with any crime, yet they both retained defense attorneys.

[00:13:21] The lawyers representing them released a statement which read, quote, John and Rebecca are among

[00:13:26] numerous people who genuinely believed a desperate young person was in need, unquote.

[00:13:33] I would be surprised if the couple was involved in any criminal wrongdoing, but Rebecca's

[00:13:37] behavior was certainly not wise.

[00:13:40] A psychotherapist should never bring a client home from a treatment facility.

[00:13:45] This boundary crossing behavior is just asking for trouble.

[00:13:49] Item number four.

[00:13:50] As I mentioned, Shelby's attorney stated that Shelby had mental health challenges, but

[00:13:55] never specified any kind of diagnosis.

[00:13:58] There's no way to know what could be happening with Shelby.

[00:14:01] She could have personality pathology, a major mood disorder, a psychotic disorder.

[00:14:06] She may not have any diagnosis at all.

[00:14:10] Maybe she is simply lying.

[00:14:12] In other notorious cases where an adult pretends to be a teenager, the term pathological lying

[00:14:17] is often brought up.

[00:14:20] This is a condition, not a mental disorder.

[00:14:22] A person cannot be diagnosed with pathological lying.

[00:14:26] This condition can exist separate of a mental health diagnosis or in conjunction with a few

[00:14:32] different disorders including factitious disorder, schizophrenia, and cluster B personality pathology.

[00:14:40] Pathological lying involves chronic and excessive lying, which appears to be driven by a lack

[00:14:44] of self-control.

[00:14:45] It usually expresses as a trait rather than being episodic.

[00:14:49] So it's not like the person is deceptive for a few months, then they stop lying for a year

[00:14:55] only to return to deceptive behavior.

[00:14:58] Usually once they start lying, they continue this behavior for life.

[00:15:03] It's just like a personality trait.

[00:15:05] The tendency to be deceptive does not change.

[00:15:09] The lies told by a pathological liar are usually not obviously absurd or bizarre.

[00:15:15] Rather they are plausible.

[00:15:17] In Shelby's case, her central prevarication involved being a teenager.

[00:15:22] However she eventually revealed inconsistencies in her story.

[00:15:26] She was unable to keep the lie straight.

[00:15:29] The motive for pathological lying is not external gain, rather internal gratification.

[00:15:36] Pathological liars often create a narrative that makes them the center of attention, whether

[00:15:40] they are playing the hero or the victim.

[00:15:43] It's almost like they are trying to take a fantasy and force it to be a reality.

[00:15:48] They cannot stand being separated from their dream world, so they create it even if that

[00:15:53] causes a nightmare for everyone else.

[00:15:56] Some conceptualizations of pathological lying categorize the liar as suffering from delusions,

[00:16:02] but others say that the liar has extreme personality traits.

[00:16:07] Maybe there is truth in both of these conceptualizations.

[00:16:11] Now moving to my final thoughts.

[00:16:13] As I mentioned, there's no way to know with certainty what happened in the case of Shelby Hewitt.

[00:16:18] Perhaps Shelby wanted to relive or reconstruct a challenging period in her life, as if being

[00:16:25] accepted and liked in high school, even as a fraud, would heal those old wounds.

[00:16:31] This is similar to time travel.

[00:16:33] She went back in time to make things right.

[00:16:36] One thing's for sure, she did not go back to high school for an academic challenge.

[00:16:41] One can only hope that Shelby's resistance to studying history does not result in her repeating it.

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