Video After The Jump
A Texas high school basketball player turned out instead to be a 22 year old imposter.
Guerdwich Montimere, a 2007 graduate of Dillard High School in Ft Lauderdale,Florida made his way to Odessa,Texas where he fooled everyone by telling them he was a 16 year old Haitian orphan named Jerry Joseph.
The coach of the Odessa Permian basketball team, Danny Wright even allowed Montimere to stay in his home.
Wright says he and the rest of the basketball team are in shock.
"I guess he fooled all of us," Wright said. "Hurt is the best way to describe how I feel. I gave him all the opportunities in the world to come clean. I don't know why he did this."
Meanwhile a criminal investigation is already underway. Montimere has been areested and charged with presenting false identification to a peace officer, but that could be just the tip of the iceberg.
"A 22 year old being in our schools is very much a concern that's why this has been an ongoing investigation, that's why we have not dropped it that's why we were not going to let go until we had found the truth," said ECISD Police Lt. Mark Rowden.
Louis Vives and Cedric Smith, coached Montimere on their AAU team when he lived in Florida. They confronted him at a tournament in Arkansas last month.
"I was hoping I was wrong because he was one of our kids," Vives said. "He grew up in our system. He played with us and you don't want any of your kids to go in the wrong direction in any way. But what's right is right. He can't go around impersonating a 16-year-old kid. He can't go living his youth all over again."
After fingerprints from his original immigration papers came in and were a match, Montimere confessed to the deception.
"I knew it was a matter of time. The truth was going to come out. I'm just glad it's over." Smith said.
The Permian team went 16-13 this season including a loss in the bi-district round of the playoffs.
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