Guerdwich Montimere, 22, Arrested For Posing As HS Student

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 graduate of Fort Lauderdale, Florida’s Dillard High School missed that since 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 within the lineup; maybe he needed an installment loan to pay for tuition but couldn’t qualify. By 2009, the American citizen from Haiti must have realized he wanted more of the basketball life, but that he was not quite good enough for playing time – that is, unless he was playing against 15-year-olds. The perfectly logical, perfectly immoral step to follow was Montimere disguising himself as a 15-year-old so he could join t! he team at Permian High School in Odessa, Texas. Guerdwich Montimere (aka Jerry Joseph) played that role straight into a jail cell, says the Odessa American newspaper.

Guerdwich Montimere was using a fake ID

Guerdwich Montimere carried that fake ID with him the entire time he lived with Permian head basketball coach Danny Wright. 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 everyone involved’s emotions, "said the distraught coach to the newspaper.

”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,” said Permian High School athletic director Leon Fuller to the media.

A hot tip from the Sunshine State

Reports indicate that Permian High School received a hot tip from unnamed sources in Florida. Possibly a friend or family member with a stronger moral sense than Montimere spilled the beans? 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

Permian High School won’t suffer too much from this debacle, as their football team is so popular that it inspired both the book “Friday Night Lights” and the television series of the exact same title. 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.

Sources for the article

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