Transgender man pleads guilty in bogus student case

MARION -- A transgender man who police say pretended to be a 15-year-old boy and tried to enroll at a southern Illinois high school last fall has pleaded guilty to felony disorderly conduct.

As part of his plea Tuesday in Williamson County, 24-year-old Jack Kaiser will finish the last 28 days of a 120-day jail sentence and be on two years of probation after returning home to California.

Police say Kaiser has also gone by the name Jennifer May and was using the name Jack Stones when he tried to enroll last October at Marion High School, telling the state child-welfare agency he'd been abandoned.

But the school's superintendent says Kaiser couldn't provide school officials with a birth certificate or school records, looked older than 15 and answered questions "too adult-like."