Laura Oglesby, a 48-year-old mother who's been estranged from her daughter, had spent the past two years living as someone else. That someone else is no other than her 22-year-old daughter, Lauren Ashleigh, who grew up to be the spitting image of her. She lived as her daughter and even dated men who believed that she was a 22-year-old university student named Lauren Ashleigh Hays.
The mom, who is in her 40s, pleads guilty and is sentenced to five years without parole for Social Security fraud.
Mountain View Police Department
Chief Jamie Perkins from the Mountain View Police Department shared, “Everybody believed it.”
“She even had boyfriends that believed that she was that age: 22 years old.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri confirms that Laura pleads guilty on Monday last week.
Laura Oglesby used her fake identity to apply for a driver's license. The next year, she used the Social Security card to enroll at Southwest Baptist University.
She now owes $17,521 in restitution to Southwest Baptist University as well as her daughter.
Laura had been staying at a shelter known to house victims running away from domestic violence and sexual assaults. The shelter, which is run by the Parkers, housed her for over a year.
"A woman in town had said that there was a girl who had had an abusive relationship, and she was at the Christos House and wanted to know if we could help her out, get her on her feet, get her started, mentor her and get her a fresh new life. We said sure, absolutely," the couple shared.
Laura was able to "prove" herself as her daughter as she had her birth certificate in hand.
Avery Parker recalled, "She was a giddy, silly girl. She was 22 but she acted 17."
But her 22-year-old facade was not enough. The Parkers were seeing red flags in her and decided to contact Avery's sister who's staying in the town where Laura claimed she was from. At the same time, investigators were going into her complex fraud case.
Within 24 hours, "Laura surfaced" and was detained.
Avery continued, "I try real hard to see the 45-year-old Laura, so I can hate her. But all I can see is a 22-year-old Lauren, who I just wanted to help."
"If I could give her a message, I would just like to tell her that the people she hurt the most - we're nothing - was her kids. She hurt her kids."
Speaking to New York Times, Chief Perkins revealed how they managed to find her: her job at the city library.
"She actually was employed here, which was kind of odd. And that's how we figured out who she was."
“We don’t know her life story outside of what she told us, but we know what happened here. She had lived that life for a couple of years and basically just ruined her daughter’s credit”
