22-Year-Old Man Caught Pretending to be High School Student

MONTE ALTO, TX – A 22-year-old man near the Texas border was arrested late last week after he was caught posing as a 16-year-old high school student.

According to the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office, on Friday, April 14, 2023, the Monte Alto ISD received information that a 22-year-old man was enrolled at the high school and was posing as a 16-year-old student.

The identity of the man provided to the Monte Alto ISD was 22-year-old Elias Gandara Garcia. Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Deputy made contact with Garcia, who identified himself as a 16-year-old student, but through the use of jail records, Garcia was properly identified as a 22-year-old man with a prior arrest.

Sheriff Investigators spoke with Garcia who provided a voluntary statement of the accused in reference to posing as a 16-year-old high school student. Investigators obtained witness statements and physical evidence to further support the case against Garcia.

Garcia was charged with Failure to Identify a Class B Misdemeanor and Tampering with a Government Record a Class A misdemeanor. Garcia is currently at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center being held on a $5,000.00 c/s bond for each charge.

This is an ongoing criminal investigation, we encourage witnesses with any information regarding this case to come forward. We urge you to please contact the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office at 956-383-8114.

If you wish to remain anonymous, you may call the Hidalgo County Crime Stoppers Hotline at 956-668-TIPS (8477). You can also submit an anonymous tip through the smartphone application “P3 TIPS”.