Woman, 25, Who Posed as Boy, 13, Jailed

A woman who posed as a 13-year-old boy abandoned at a bus station was charged Friday with forgery and making a written false statement.

Birdie Jo Hoaks, 25, is to be arraigned Tuesday. She is jailed on $10,150 bond.

Officials also will seek restitution for the cost of services Hoaks received while staying at a state group home, which could be as much as $1,700.

Hoaks faces up to five years in prison and $6,000 in fines if convicted. But prosecutors said they would not push for a long jail term and instead would urge that Hoaks receive psychological counseling.

“She has been in jail before, but I don’t know if she learned her lesson,” said Dist. Atty. Neal Gunnarson.

Hoaks, posing as a 13-year-old boy, called state social services officials on Dec. 20 and told them she had been left at a bus stop by her stepmother and father.

She provided a forged birth certificate and a letter, purporting to be from the boy’s stepmother. The letter said the parents were driving to Mexico and could no longer care for the boy because his father had AIDS and his birth mother was dead.

The story provoked an outpouring of donations, gifts and offers of shelter.

By Wednesday, Hoaks had been identified by authorities in other states, and officials said she confessed to fabricating her tale of woe so she could find a warm place to stay.

She has been jailed for similar scams in Vermont and South Dakota, and similar incidents were reported in Texas, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Alaska and West Virginia.