Guerdwich Montimere, 22, Arrested For Posing As HS Student

Guerdwich Montimere must really believe that “the best days of our lives” are really in high school. The 22-year-old graduate of Fort Lauderdale, Florida’s Dillard High School missed that given that his 2007 graduation. Montimere was a top-flight basketball player there, so much so that he helped them to reach the state semis. He did make an effort to make it in junior college, but could not stick in the lineup; possibly he needed an installment loan to pay for tuition but couldn’t qualify. Montimere, an American citizen from Haiti, decided that enough was enough in 2009: he had to find some 15-year-olds to dominate on the court. The perfectly logical, perfectly immoral step to follow was Montimere disguising himself as a 15-year-old so he could join the team at Pe! rmian High School in Odessa, Texas. Odessa American indicates that Guerdwich Montimere (aka Jerry Joseph) disguised his way straight into being arrested.

Guerdwich Montimere charged with using false identification

Guerdwich Montimere's fake documents proved to be enough to fool head basketball coach Danny Wright, with whom he lived after enrolling at Permian. This was particularly galling for Wright, who considered Montimere “a family member” who would never do such a deceitful thing. “The whole school of Permian embraced that kid. He deceived us and played on every person involved’s emotions,” Wright told the American.

School athletic director Leon Fuller was absolutely flabbergasted: “I feel like I was hit by a ton of bricks. In my 50 years in education, I’ve never heard of anything like this”.

Blame it on Florida

According to the American, Odessa authorities received an anonymous tip from somebody in Florida, where Montimere attended high school legitimately. Might that are a friend of family member of Montimere’s? Who originated the call doesn’t matter much; that immigration was able to catch Montimere because of the tip is more important. Their investigation led to Joseph’s unmasking as Guerdwich Montimere.

Football will make them feel better, eventually

The school that inspired the wildly popular “Friday Night Lights” in print and on television will always have their football glory to keep them warm. Guerdwich Montimere's grab for playing time on the hardwood forced the Permian Panthers boys’ basketball squad to forfeit the entire season in which he played.

Article Resources

USA Today

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/05/22-year-old-texas-high-school-basketball-star-arrested-for-posing-as-16-year-old-/1