Mom, 48, stole daughter’s identity to start college, date young guys
A Missouri mama is facing jail time after she admitted to stealing her estranged daughter’s identity in order to secure student loans, enroll in college — and pursue her sexy co-ed fantasies.
Laura Oglesby, 48, posed as her daughter, Lauren Hays, for more than two years in an elaborate scam that fooled both the federal government and locals in the small town of Mountain View.
In 2016, Oglesby applied for a Social Security card in Hays’ name, which she promptly received in the mail.
From that point on, Oglesby — who originally hailed from Arkansas and was then age 43 — assumed her daughter’s identity, saying her name was Lauren Hays and that she was only 22 years old.
The fraudster even started seducing unsuspecting men in their early 20s, who had no idea that Oglesby was almost two decades older than she said she was.
“Everyone believed it. She even had boyfriends that believed that she was that age: 22 years old,” Chief Jamie Perkins of the Mountain View Police Department told the New York Times.
Disturbing photos obtained by Missouri news station KY3 appear to show Oglesby even had her own Snapchat account where she pretended to be Hays and posed with an array of youthful filters over her face.
“She had completely adopted a younger lifestyle: clothing, makeup and personality. She had completely assumed becoming a younger person in her early 20s,” Detective Stetson Schwien, told the local ABC outlet.
Oglesby moved in with local couple Avery and Wendy Parker, a pair of apparently kind strangers in Mountain View who believed she was a young woman running away from a domestic violence situation.
The manipulative mom told them her name was “Lauren Hays” and she went on to live with the Parkers for close to two years.
During that time, Oglesby applied for a Missouri driver’s license in her daughter’s name before enrolling in Southwest Baptist University.
She applied for financial aid and received $9,400 in federal student loans, $5,920 in Pell Grants, and $1,863 in finance charges.
Oglesby even worked at the local Mountain View library, where locals knew her as Lauren Hays.
However, after more than two years, the elaborate scam came crashing down in August 2018. Police in Mountain View were contacted by authorities in Arkansas who believed Oglesby had committed financial fraud by using the name of her daughter.
Recognizing the name, investigators approached Oglesby, who initially denied stealing her daughter’s identity. However, it’s reported that she subsequently broke down and admitted to the fraud.
Oglesby is facing five years behind bars without parole after pleading guilty to one count of intentionally providing false information to the Social Security Administration.
Under the terms of her plea agreement, Oglesby must also pay $17,521 in restitution to Southwest Baptist University in Missouri and to her daughter.
The real Lauren Hays has not yet spoken out about her mom’s scam — or how their relationship deteriorated.
