WATERFORD, Conn. -- A 52-year-old former police officer was arrested after police said he tried to pass himself off as a high school student.

Police said Christopher Schildt, 52, a retired police officer, gained access to Waterford High School Thursday morning. They said Schildt tried to pass himself off as an 18-year-old student and sat in a class.

School officials said they thought Schildt, who looks youthful for his age, was a transfer student from Florida. Schildt told school officials he was registering his 18-year-old nephew, who had the same name and the alleged teen had medical issues and would appear older.

Schildt was arrested Thursday night and charged with forgery, trespassing and breach of peace.

Schildt said getting into the school was his "mission," and that he wanted to prove terrorists could get into America's schools. He said his inspiration was the book, "Black Like Me," a nonfiction book that chronicles the author's six-week experience traveling through the racially-segregated south in 1959.

Schildt said he entered to school for research for a future book he plans to pen on the ease of breaching security and obtaining and forging identity documents.

He said he bought the materials he needed to make the documents to enroll in class online and used an embossed state seals purchased through a major office supply retailer.

"(They were) excellent documents. He certainly spent a lot of time on the scheme to gain entrance tot eh school," said Lt. Brett Mahoney of the Waterford Police Department.

Waterford's superintendent said he's embarrassed and that a letter was sent home to parents explaining the incident.

"I think the lesson I take away is that in this day and age, even though you have a story that's very heart rendering, you can't take anything for granted," said Waterford Superintendent Dr. Randy Collins. "It's certainly the most unusual thing I've dealt with my career."