Man Posing as High School B-Baller Busted

Former South Florida standout posed as teen in Texas: police

The moves make the man, and in the case of South Florida high school basketball star Guerdwich Montimere, the moves discovered the boy was a man.

The 22-year-old former Fort Lauderdale standout player was arrested Tuesday after police said he posed as a 16-year-old boy playing on a Texas high school team.

Montimere, a star at Dillard High a few years ago, was discovered by two South Florida coaches playing at Permian High in Odessa, Texas.

Posing as sophomore Jerry Joseph, Montimere was confronted by Boyd Anderson Assistant coach Cedric Smith and South Florida Elite coach Louis Vives at an April tournament in Arkansas.

"We saw him. We've known Guerdwich since he was in seventh or eighth grade," Smith told the Sun-Sentinel last week. "The mannerisms were him."

Vives approached Joseph at last month's tournament, calling him Guerdwich.

"He acknowledged me like he didn't know me," Vives said.

The coaches alerted school officials at Permian, who set off an investigation by U.S. immigration officials.

Police confronted Montimere at the school Tuesday about his identity. He was arrested and booked into Ector County jail on a charge of presenting false identification to a peace officer.

Montimere had enrolled at the junior high as a 15-year-old in February 2009, and had begun living with Permian's basketball coach, Danny Wright, telling him he was homeless.

"This affected a lot of people. The whole school of Permian embraced that kid. He deceived us and played on everyone's emotions," Wright said.

The school may have to forfeit its 2009 season, in which Montimere, as Joseph, won the newcomer of the year award.

As of Tuesday night, Montimere was being held on $500 bond. He faces six months in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Montimere, a 6-foot-five naturalized U.S. citizen, was born in Haiti. He graduated from Dillard in 2007.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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