Mar 2, 2016 4 min read

A young Ukrainian man is now sitting in a Harrisburg jail cell, facing charges ranging from statutory sexual assault to conspiracy, and all because of his burning desire to become an American.

An Associated Press article we published a week ago told the story of Artur Samarin, who used the alias Asher Potts, arrested and accused of masquerading as a John Harris High School student. Samarin was a member of the National Honor Society, worked with a student advisory group on a food bank and was a member of the school’s ROTC and Navy Sea Cadet programs.

He had a Pennsylvania driver’s license in Potts’ name when he was arrested.

Authorities were investigating whether anyone else conspired with Samarin on creating and maintaining his false identity. “I would think there would have to be someone who knew, said police Sgt. Terry Weyland. “And if there is, they are going to pay, too.”

At first, it seemed puzzling that police would so aggressively pursue an illegal immigrant instead of any number of violent criminals, but the case of Artur Samarin is not so simple, and it is surprising that it has not gained more attention.

CNN reported earlier this week that Samarin insists the plot wasn’t his idea and says he has no regrets.

“It’s all about education,” Artur Samarin, 23, told CNN-affiliate WHTM, in a phone interview conducted last Friday. “I’m not regretting doing it. I have spent all of my free time on education. I tried to do better for the society.”

Samarin arrived in the United States four years ago on an exchange visa. He later applied for and was granted a tourist visa, but that expired three years ago.

Speaking from Dauphin County Prison, Samarin told WHTM he came to the United States because he wanted a shot at a better life than he could find in his native country.

“Ukrainian people were starving,” he said. “My mother, my grandfather, and my grandma … they put their last money for me to come here and they told me we wish you well. Do your best, man. Do it for all of us.”

Samarin told his interviewer the false identity was the idea of Michael and Stephanyne Potts, a married couple with whom he was living. He said the Pottses helped him obtain a driver’s license, Social Security card and other documents and that they used the situation to turn him into their servant.

“Everything they ask of me I could not tell them no,” he told WHTM. “If I say no they gonna call immigration and send me back which I did not want. I was afraid of that so I was cleaning the toilet, I was cooking for them, I was doing everything in (the) house, all the housework.”

Samarin realized he was being treated as a slave, but the educational opportunity was worth it.

His downfall might be attributed to hormones. He was posing as someone five years younger, and as a ninth- and tenth-grader, he had ninth- and tenth-grade girlfriends. His relationship with a 15-year-old in 2014 eventually led to his arrest Feb. 23.

“I am guilty. I am,” he said. “It’s justice. What can I say? I did abuse the system. Yes I did. I did use this identity and it’s the law. … I’m here in this prison because I’ve done a crime.”

Samarin broke the law, and what he did is wrong, But his motives are easy to understand and perhaps admirable.

“I had a dream,” he said. “I still have a dream. I love the United States. It’s a land of opportunity for all of us immigrants and this land provided me with opportunities, with limitless friends. It opened golden doors, golden gate for me.”

A preliminary hearing on the charges against Samarin was scheduled for Friday.

“I love here and I am American,” Samarin said. “I’m considering myself American now. American, it’s not your place of birth. It’s something goes on inside of your soul. It is the way you feel. It is liberties and justice that you earn, and I love it.”