A young man convicted of having sex with his underage girlfriend is in trouble for passing himself off as British nobility at a Minnesota high school.
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Joshua Adam Gardner, 22, aka Caspian James Crichton-Stuart IV, the Fifth Duke of Cleveland, was unmasked by student reporters at the Stillwater Area High School.
The fake duke told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he was not trying to hurt anyone. He said he felt more comfortable with his fake identity.
Gardner faces possible prison time for failing to keep authorities posted on his address and other probation violations. He was convicted when he was 18 of having sex with a 14-year-old.
Officials at the high school said that Gardner never had any unsupervised contact with students and did not cause any problems. But the student reporters say he could be touchy about his rank.
"He was demanding that we call him 'Your Grace,"' said Chantel Leonhart, one of the paper's managing editors. "He even demanded that the principal call him 'Your Grace.'"