diff --git a/src/main/java/org/mvel2/ParserConfiguration.java b/src/main/java/org/mvel2/ParserConfiguration.java
index 7267d79c2..37797a6bb 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/mvel2/ParserConfiguration.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/mvel2/ParserConfiguration.java
@@ -28,10 +28,16 @@
 import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;
-import java.util.*;
+import java.util.EnumSet;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.LinkedHashSet;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
 
-import static java.lang.Thread.currentThread;
+import static org.mvel2.util.ParseTools.forNameWithInner;
 
 /**
  * The resusable parser configuration object.
@@ -118,7 +124,7 @@ private boolean addClassMemberStaticImports(String packageName) {
       }
       else {
         for (Field f : c.getDeclaredFields()) {
-          if ((f.getModifiers() & (Modifier.STATIC | Modifier.PUBLIC)) != 0) {
+          if ((f.getModifiers() & (Modifier.STATIC | Modifier.PUBLIC)) == (Modifier.STATIC | Modifier.PUBLIC)) {
             imports.put(f.getName(), f.get(null));
           }
         }
@@ -160,10 +166,10 @@ private boolean checkForDynamicImport(String className) {
     Class cls = null;
     for (String pkg : packageImports) {
       try {
-        cls = Class.forName(pkg + "." + className, true, getClassLoader());
+        cls = forNameWithInner( pkg + "." + className, getClassLoader() );
         found++;
       }
-      catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+      catch (ClassNotFoundException cnfe) {
         // do nothing.
       }
       catch (NoClassDefFoundError e) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/mvel2/optimizers/AbstractOptimizer.java b/src/main/java/org/mvel2/optimizers/AbstractOptimizer.java
index 7e6a9d099..a7ec8b68c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/mvel2/optimizers/AbstractOptimizer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/mvel2/optimizers/AbstractOptimizer.java
@@ -68,20 +68,21 @@ protected Object tryStaticAccess() {
           case '.':
             if (!meth) {
               ClassLoader classLoader = pCtx != null ? pCtx.getClassLoader() : currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
+              String test = new String(expr, start, (cursor = last) - start);
               try {
-                String test = new String(expr, start, (cursor = last) - start);
                 if (MVEL.COMPILER_OPT_SUPPORT_JAVA_STYLE_CLASS_LITERALS && test.endsWith(".class"))
                     test = test.substring(0, test.length() - 6);
 
                 return Class.forName(test, true, classLoader);
-              }
-              catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+              } catch (ClassNotFoundException cnfe) {
+                try {
+                  return findInnerClass( test, classLoader, cnfe );
+                } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) { /* ignore */ }
                 Class cls = forNameWithInner(new String(expr, start, i - start), classLoader);
                 String name = new String(expr, i + 1, end - i - 1);
                 try {
                   return cls.getField(name);
-                }
-                catch (NoSuchFieldException nfe) {
+                } catch (NoSuchFieldException nfe) {
                   for (Method m : cls.getMethods()) {
                     if (name.equals(m.getName())) return m;
                   }
@@ -160,24 +161,6 @@ protected Object tryStaticAccess() {
     return null;
   }
 
-  private Class forNameWithInner(String className, ClassLoader classLoader) throws ClassNotFoundException {
-    ClassNotFoundException cnfe = null;
-    try {
-      return Class.forName(className, true, classLoader);
-    } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
-      cnfe = e;
-    }
-
-    for (int lastDotPos = className.lastIndexOf('.'); lastDotPos > 0; lastDotPos = className.lastIndexOf('.')) {
-      className = className.substring(0, lastDotPos) + "$" + className.substring(lastDotPos+1);
-      try {
-        return Class.forName(className, true, classLoader);
-      } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) { }
-    }
-
-     throw cnfe;
-  }
-
   protected int nextSubToken() {
     skipWhitespace();
     nullSafe = false;
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/mvel2/util/ParseTools.java b/src/main/java/org/mvel2/util/ParseTools.java
index f3c295798..8a11b0394 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/mvel2/util/ParseTools.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/mvel2/util/ParseTools.java
@@ -425,7 +425,6 @@ public static Method getWidenedTarget(Class cls, Method method) {
 
     if (best != method) return best;
 
-    currentCls = cls;
     for (currentCls = cls; currentCls != null; currentCls = currentCls.getSuperclass()) {
       if ((m = getExactMatch(name, args, rt, currentCls)) != null) {
         best = m;
@@ -502,7 +501,7 @@ public static Class createClass(String className, ParserContext pCtx) throws Cla
     }
 
     WeakReference<Class> ref;
-    Class cls = null;
+    Class cls;
 
     if ((ref = cache.get(className)) != null && (cls = ref.get()) != null) {
       return cls;
@@ -2184,4 +2183,22 @@ public static char[] readIn(InputStream inStream, String encoding) throws IOExce
       if (inStream != null) inStream.close();
     }
   }
+
+  public static Class forNameWithInner(String className, ClassLoader classLoader) throws ClassNotFoundException {
+    try {
+      return Class.forName(className, true, classLoader);
+    } catch (ClassNotFoundException cnfe) {
+      return findInnerClass( className, classLoader, cnfe );
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static Class findInnerClass( String className, ClassLoader classLoader, ClassNotFoundException cnfe ) throws ClassNotFoundException {
+    for (int lastDotPos = className.lastIndexOf('.'); lastDotPos > 0; lastDotPos = className.lastIndexOf('.')) {
+      className = className.substring(0, lastDotPos) + "$" + className.substring(lastDotPos+1);
+      try {
+        return Class.forName(className, true, classLoader);
+      } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) { /* ignore */ }
+    }
+    throw cnfe;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/mvel2/tests/core/CoreConfidenceTests.java b/src/test/java/org/mvel2/tests/core/CoreConfidenceTests.java
index 602287496..fc6741b75 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/mvel2/tests/core/CoreConfidenceTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/mvel2/tests/core/CoreConfidenceTests.java
@@ -4410,4 +4410,40 @@ public void testEmptyOperatorOnInteger() {
     assertEquals(true, MVEL.executeExpression(MVEL.compileExpression("zero == empty", pctx), vars));
     assertEquals(false, MVEL.executeExpression(MVEL.compileExpression("nonZero == empty", pctx), vars));
   }
+
+  public void testInstanceofOnInnerClass() {
+    ParserConfiguration conf = new ParserConfiguration();
+    conf.addImport(ARef.class);
+    ParserContext pctx = new ParserContext( conf );
+    pctx.setStrictTypeEnforcement(true);
+    pctx.setStrongTyping(true);
+    pctx.addInput("value", Object.class);
+    Map vars = new HashMap() {{ put("value", new ARef()); }};
+    assertEquals(true, MVEL.executeExpression(MVEL.compileExpression("value instanceof ARef", pctx), vars));
+    assertEquals(true, MVEL.executeExpression(MVEL.compileExpression("value instanceof " + ARef.class.getCanonicalName(), pctx), vars));
+  }
+
+  public void testInstanceofWithPackageImport() {
+    ParserConfiguration conf = new ParserConfiguration();
+    conf.addPackageImport( "org.mvel2.tests.core" );
+    ParserContext pctx = new ParserContext( conf );
+    pctx.setStrictTypeEnforcement(true);
+    pctx.setStrongTyping(true);
+    pctx.addInput("value", Object.class);
+    Map vars = new HashMap() {{ put("value", new CoreConfidenceTests()); }};
+    assertEquals(true, MVEL.executeExpression(MVEL.compileExpression("value instanceof CoreConfidenceTests", pctx), vars));
+    assertEquals(true, MVEL.executeExpression(MVEL.compileExpression("value instanceof " + CoreConfidenceTests.class.getCanonicalName(), pctx), vars));
+  }
+
+  public void testInstanceofWithPackageImportAndInnerClass() {
+    ParserConfiguration conf = new ParserConfiguration();
+    conf.addPackageImport( "org.mvel2.tests.core.CoreConfidenceTests" );
+    ParserContext pctx = new ParserContext( conf );
+    pctx.setStrictTypeEnforcement(true);
+    pctx.setStrongTyping(true);
+    pctx.addInput("value", Object.class);
+    Map vars = new HashMap() {{ put("value", new ARef()); }};
+    assertEquals(true, MVEL.executeExpression(MVEL.compileExpression("value instanceof ARef", pctx), vars));
+    assertEquals(true, MVEL.executeExpression(MVEL.compileExpression("value instanceof " + ARef.class.getCanonicalName(), pctx), vars));
+  }
 }
\ No newline at end of file