School intruder

An Odessa man is back in Texas after raising several hairs on authorities in Kansas and Nebraska when he reportedly went to at least 15 different schools claiming he wanted to enroll in them, Junction City, Kan. police Capt. Tim Brown said.

The man, whose name Brown withheld because he was not considered a criminal suspect in connection to the incidents, was identified Friday after police interviewed him. Brown said police think he was posing as a transfer student, “playing this imposter,” and thought mental illness might have been a factor in the man’s actions.

Though Brown said the man was on probation for an auto theft conviction in Odessa, he was not considered dangerous and police in Junction City were not pursuing him. Brown said he was told the man voluntarily returned to Odessa to visit his probation officer.

Brown said on Sept. 30, the man came to Junction City Senior High School—located about 130 miles west of Kansas City—and knocked on a locked rear entrance door to the high school. Administrators asked the man to leave but the man, identifying himself as a transfer student, asked several questions that administrators considered suspicious.

The man was seen wearing a Permian High School letterman jacket.

Brown said they and school officials learned he said the same thing to several other schools in Kansas and Nebraska. When they asked about his background at each school he gave different stories on why he was visiting.

“We didn’t know what his motives were,” Brown said. “He didn’t appear to have a violent background.”