Guerdwich Montimere, 22, Nabbed For Posing As High Schooler

Guerdwich Montimere clearly is a subscriber to the notion that patrolling the halls of high school equals the best of times. The 22-year-old graduated from Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 2007. The young man was a skilled basketball player during his reign at Dillard, and more than likely wanted another taste. Perhaps he couldn’t pay tuition without an installment payday loans. Once 2009 rolled around, the young man from Haiti made the decision to pretend to be a high school student again so he could dominate the competition on the court. His next brilliant leap of logic was to pretend to be 15 and enroll at Permian High School out of Odessa, Texas. As the Odessa American reports, Guerdwich Montimere (aka Jerry Joseph) has been arrested for his little game.

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. The news threw Wright for a loop, particularly since Montimere/Joseph was close enough to be considered “a family member” by coach and family. ”The whole school of Permian embraced that kid. He deceived us and played on every person involved’s emotions,” the crestfallen hardwood coach exclaimed to the Odessa American publication.

Leon Fuller, Permian’s athletic director, was equally stunned: “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 someone in Florida, where Montimere attended high school legitimately. Might that are a friend of family member of Montimere’s? Whatever the case, that tip is what led immigration to Jerry Joseph’s door. Their investigation led to Joseph’s unmasking as Guerdwich Montimere.

At least they have football

Odessa’s Permian High School is famous for its football program, so much so that it inspired the book “Friday Night Lights,” which in turn inspired a popular television series of the same name. Guerdwich Montimere went for the half-court shot with his dangerous dame, and the Permian Panthers will have to forfeit their basketball season because of it.

Article Sources

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