A New York mother is in serious trouble after she forged her daughter’s death just so she and her family could stretch out their vacation in Costa Rica for a week longer than she’d requested.

Joan Barnett, 58, had traveled to Costa Rica with her family when she got her own daughters involved in a scheme that would allow her to stay an additional week in Costa Rica on vacation. The Manhattan High School of Hospitality Management teacher had one of her daughters to call the high school and tell them that her sister had suffered a heart attack. Barnett then had another daughter call to say the sister had died while they were still in Costa Rica.

The mother even went so far as to forge a Costa Rican death certificate, as all city employees wishing to take bereavement time off must provide a copy of the document.

The morally questionable mother and teacher was caught when a school investigator noticed that certificate’s fonts were different than those on real Costa Rican death certificates. The forged certificate was for “Xinia Daley Herman.”

It was later discovered that Barnett had booked her flights three weeks in advance, showing that she had every intention of staying in Costa Rica for two weeks instead of one.

Barnett has since lost her job and pled guilty to forgery.