In one of the most bizarre stories of the year, an Evans business had a 54-year-old employee arrested for posing as her 21-year-old daughter and working under her name for over a year!
When confronted by Columbia County sheriff’s investigators two weeks ago, the aged woman continued to insist she was 21, according to sheriff’s Capt. Andy Shedd.
“She is much older than that,” the sheriff’s captain said.
Frances Gwinn, 54, eventually confessed to taking the job at the Early Autism Project Inc. after her daughter didn’t want it. She was arrested for theft by deception and giving false information to police.
A sheriff’s report spells out what happened:
Jaime White, clinic director of the Early Autism Project in Evans, called the sheriff’s office on Aug. 17 to report her discovery.
White said she was conducting her yearly employee evaluations and came across Wesleigh Gwinn’s file containing copies of her driver’s license and passport photos. She noticed that the photos did not match the person who was currently working in the office at the time. That’s when White called the sheriff’s office.
Authorities arrived and went to talk to the employee, who eventually fessed up that her true identity was Frances Gwinn, not Wesleigh Gwinn. She said she had been using her daughter’s identity for the purpose of employment with Early Autism Project.
The suspect said her 21-year-old daughter had completed the initial interviews, paperwork and training classes. But she decided she didn’t want the job.
So the young woman’s mother began working there, starting as a line therapist in March 2015, using her daughter’s identity the whole time. She said her daughter knew about the situation while she kept working there for 18 months, a sheriff’s report says.
Frances Gwinn, of Brooks Drive, Martinez, was then arrested. A sheriff’s report describes her as “disabled.”
Authorities say the suspect was not honest in the beginning.
“The date of birth she gave us would have made her 21 years old,” Capt. Shedd said. “She was earning a paycheck under fraudulent pretenses, earning a paycheck as someone she wasn’t.”