A federal judge Thursday morning ordered a Ukrainian man who posed as a Harrisburg High School student to spend 2 months in prison for passport and Social Security fraud. 
 
 The penalty U.S. Middle District Senior Judge Sylvia H. Rambo levied on Artur Samarin was less than the 3-month jail term Assistant U.S. Attorney Darryl F. Bloom suggested. It was also less lenient than the punishment sought by Adam Klein, the attorney for the 23-year-old Samarin. 
 
 For one thing, Rambo ordered Samarin to serve his federal sentence consecutively to any penalty Dauphin County Judge Deborah E. Curcillo imposes when she sentences him for his larger fraud next week. 
 
 Samarin, who masqueraded as teenager Asher Potts to attend Harrisburg High, pleaded guilty to the federal charges in August. Investigators said he used his fake name and posed as a U.S. citizen to try to secure a U.S. passport and lied on Social Security documents. 
 
 He wasn't even supposed to be in this country because the visa he obtained in 2012 to work at a Red Robin restaurant in the Hershey-Harrisburg area had expired. 
 
 His fake persona fell apart when Harrisburg police arrested him last year. Curcillo is to sentence him on his guilty pleas to separate fraud and sex crime charges. He admitted to lying about his identity to secure a free public education and to having sex with a 15-year-old girl he met at school. 
 
 Bloom noted that sentencing guidelines provided for Samarin to receive up to 6 months behind bars on the federal charges. He didn't oppose Klein's request to have the federal sentence run concurrently with the sentence to be handed down in county court. 
 
 "Mr. Samarin came here legally with the best of intentions. He was taken advantage of, although that doesn't excuse his behavior," Klein said in asking Rambo for mercy. 
 
 Samarin gave the judge a brief apology. 
 
 Klein and co-counsel Clarke Madden argued in a sentencing memorandum that Michael and Stephayne Potts, a Harrisburg couple who became Samarin's "adoptive parents," prompted Samarin to commit the identity con. They took his money and told him he had to pose as a teenager for them to adopt him, Madden wrote. 
 
 Madden said the Pottses, who also are facing federal fraud charges, treated Samarin "like a servant" and made him sleep in a closet. 
 
 Yet Samarin became "one of the most distinguished students in the history of John Harris High School" and pursued charitable ventures, including aiding the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and efforts to curb violence, that gained him recognition, Madden wrote. 
 
 The Pottses turned Samarin in to the authorities after he "escaped" from them in August 2015, Madden noted. 
 
 Ultimately, he wrote, Samarin was trying to flee the turmoil in his homeland that deadened his prospects for a productive life. "Artur is, in so many ways, the embodiment of those virtues we say we want in immigrants," Madden argued. 
 
 He and Klein did convince Rambo that Samarin isn't solely to blame for the federal crimes. She found the offenses were "partially induced by the Potts family and that will be attended to by this court." 
 
 Yet Rambo also concluded that Samarin's "extensive fraud" had to be adequately punished, although she recognized "the great service he has done for the community." 
 
 Klein and Madden said Samarin won't oppose his likely deportation. Klein told the judge that Samarin already has made contact with the Ukrainian consulate to prepare for that. ||||| HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A 24-year-old Ukrainian man who faked his name and age to attend a Pennsylvania high school has been ordered to spend two months in prison on federal fraud charges. 
 
 On Thursday, U.S. Middle District Senior Judge Sylvia Rambo sentenced Artur Samarin to less than the three-month jail term prosecutors suggested. Samarin pleaded guilty to passport fraud and Social Security fraud in August. 
 
 He faces deportation during a sentencing next week for separate fraud and sex crime charges. 
 
 He has admitted lying about his identity to get a free public education and having sex with a 15-year-old girl in 2014, when he was 22. 
 
 Samarin was called Asher Potts at John Harris High School. He impressed teachers and community leaders before authorities learned he was considerably older and overstayed a visa.
– A 24-year-old Ukrainian man who faked his name and age to attend a Pennsylvania high school has been ordered to spend two months in prison on federal fraud charges. Artur Samarin—who called himself Asher Potts when he enrolled at Harrisburg High School in 2012—pleaded guilty to passport fraud and Social Security fraud in August, the AP reports. He has also admitted lying about his identity to get a free public education and having sex with a 15-year-old girl in 2014, when he was 22, and will be sentenced on separate fraud and sex crimes charges next week. Samarin, who will probably be deported when he finishes his sentence, was a star student at Harrisburg High—and a runner-up for homecoming king—before his true age was discovered. At Thursday's hearing, his lawyers said he had been one of the most distinguished students in the high school's history and had supported charities, including the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, PennLive reports. The lawyers said Samarin had been pushed into the fraud by Michael and Stephayne Potts, a couple who became his "adoptive parents" but treated him like a servant—and reported him to authorities when he "escaped." They are also facing fraud charges related to Samarin's high school career.