29-year-old woman who enrolled in New Brunswick High School says she knows she 'made a mistake'

NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (WPVI) -- A 29-year-old who pretended to be a student at New Brunswick High School in New Jersey lasted only a week before the school discovered her birth certificate was fake.

Hyejeong Shin's attorney, Darren Gelber, said the Rutgers University graduate knows she made a mistake and that it was her longing for the kinds of friendships she had in high school that made her decide to do it.

Gelber said Shin is a South Korean citizen who came to this country alone when she was 16 to attend a private boarding school and that she missed that kind of atmosphere, seeking it again at New Brunswick High.

"At no time was anyone or any student in danger and this entire case is more about my client wanting to return to a place of safety and welcoming, and an environment that she looks back on fondly and nothing more," said Gelber.

Shin's ruse earned her a grand jury indictment and a third-degree offense for false documents and hindering her own prosecution.

Her family sent their New York attorney to her court proceedings on Monday. Shin and her attorney are hoping she will be accepted into the pre-trial intervention program and serve no time.

New Brunswick Police had earlier released a statement, which said in part of its investigation that nothing had revealed that Shin's intentions for enrolling in New Brunswick High School were to bring harm or violence to the students, staff or faculty.

Gelber says once this is resolved -- however it is resolved, after 13 years in the United States, Shin wants to return to South Korea.

Shin's next court date is pending.