27-Year-Old Nebraska Man Who Posed as High School Student Sentenced to at Least 85 Years Over Sex Crimes

The man previously pleaded no contest in July to first-degree sexual assault and child enticement with electronic communication among other charges

A 27-year-old Nebraska man, who allegedly posed as a 17-year-old high school student for nearly two months in 2023, will spend several decades in prison, according to NBC News.

A Lancaster County judge sentenced Zachary Scheich to between 85 and 120 years in prison in court last week after Lancaster County attorneys argued that he had posed as a teenager in high school in order to gain access to and exploit underage girls, according to court records obtained by local CBS affiliate KOLN-TV and The Grand Island Independent.

Scheich previously pleaded no contest in July to several felony charges including first-degree sexual assault, attempted first-degree sexual assault, generation of child pornography — age 19 or over — and child enticement with electronic communication, per NBC News.

Lancaster County District Judge Darla Ideus reportedly called Scheich a “significant risk to the community” in court and said, per The Independent, “The court concludes that the risk is substantial that absent a lengthy period of incarceration you will prey upon others.”

Related: 26-Year-Old Nebraska Man Arrested on Sex Crime Charges After Allegedly Posing as High School Student

Scheich won’t be eligible for parole for more than 40 years, KOLN-TV reported.

Lancaster County Deputy County Attorney Amber Scholte called the 27-year-old a “predator of the worst kind” in court and said he “targeted, groomed and lured” teenage girls on social media “under the guise of being their peer, their friend, and in some cases, their boyfriend,” per the outlet.

The Lancaster County public defender’s office, which represented Scheich, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Scheich was arrested in July 2023 following an investigation by the Lincoln Police Department, which found that the then 26-year-old had enrolled at Northwest High School and Southeast High School during the 2022-2023 school year under the name of Zak Hess.

Investigators eventually learned that he had attended 54 days of school, despite having already graduated from Lincoln Public Schools in 2015. During this time, police said he had contacted female students on electronic devices using his fake name and had sent out an alert to identify potential victims in the case.

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In court, prosecutors claimed that Scheich created false documentation to pass himself off as a 17-year-old student and sexually assaulted multiple students under his false identity, per KOLN-TV.

Another woman, 23-year-old Angela Navarro, was also arrested in connection to the case. Police claimed that she had aided Scheich by posing as his mother “Danielle Hess,” and worked with Lincoln Public Schools staff to get him enrolled, KOLN-TV reported.

She pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal impersonation of $5,000+, and was released on bond.

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