Texas high school basketball star is 22 year old man, police say

[Liberal_in_LA]

HIGH SCHOOLS
Ball fake: Police say prep star is really 22

(05-12) 04:00 PDT Odessa, Texas --

A West Texas student who led his high school basketball team to the state playoffs last season was actually a 22-year-old man, police said Tuesday.

Police say the 6-foot-5 basketball star was really Guerdwich Montimere, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti who school officials say was recognized last month by Florida coaches as having been a star high school player in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a few years ago.

Ector County school district officials said the man posed as 16-year-old Jerry Joseph and enrolled at Permian High School in Odessa for the 2009-2010 academic year. He also presented himself as homeless to the school's basketball coach, Danny Wright, who took the boy in last summer, the coach said.

Montimere was arrested at Permian High on Tuesday and booked into Ector County jail on a charge of presenting false identification to a peace officer.

Officials said Jerry Joseph originally enrolled at the local junior high as a 15-year-old in February 2009, then moved on to high school.

Permian High officials say suspicions about the player's identity first arose when three Florida basketball coaches familiar with Montimere recognized him last month at an amateur tournament in Little Rock, Ark.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/12/SPKE1DDADH.DTL


Guerdwich Montimere and the Biggest Scammers in Sports History
by Tim Wood Correspondent Written on May 12, 2010 Like (0)Share Share ThisShare This Article

Permian High School hoopster Jerry Joseph played like a man among boys.

Turns out that good ol' sports cliche proved to be true.

Police said Tuesday that the Permian star is really Guerdwich Montimere (pictured at right), a 22-year-old naturalized citizen from Haiti who school officials said was recognized at a high school hoops showcase last month.

Guerdmire originally enrolled in town in 2009, telling Permian coach Danny Wright that he was homeless. He must have seen "The Blind Side".

Wright housed Guerdmire and reaped the benefits of his good Samaritan acts on the court this past year.

Guerdmire was actually a star player in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. a few years ago.

The news means Permian likely will have to forfeit the 2009 basketball season in which the 6-foot-5 player "Jerry Joseph" earned numerous newcomer of the year awards and led the team to the District 2-5A state playoffs.


http://bleacherreport.com/articles/391236-guerdwich-montimere-and-the-biggest-scammers-in-sports-history

[Quantess]

1. He didn't get any scholarships?

[Dover]

2. That's normal high school age in Texas.

Hey, when dinosaurs roam the capitol chambers and a fossil fills the governor's seat, what do you expect? If you were kind you might say Texas is...er...ageless.