MICHELE NORRIS, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
Just a couple of months ago, Permian High School in Odessa, Texas, was celebrating Jerry Joseph's remarkable season. The 6'5" Haitian-American sophomore was a guard on the basketball team who averaged 20 points in the school's last nine district games. That was good enough to make the 16-year-old Joseph the district's newcomer of the year. And that, despite the disruption to his life in January when the Haiti earthquake struck, and he said several members of his family died.
The only problem with his story? Well, Jerry Joseph was not 16. He was 22. And he wasn't Jerry Joseph either. He was Guerdwich Montimere, a naturalized citizen who played basketball at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he'd graduated three years ago. I've been reading about this story in the Odessa American, where Craig Craker is assistant sports editor.
Welcome to the program, Mr. Craker.
Mr. CRAIG CRAKER (Assistant Sports Editor, Odessa American): Thank you.
SIEGEL: And first, until a few weeks ago, did anyone suspect anything unusual about this young man?
Mr. CRAKER: You know, not really, not at least locally. I know other coaches in the district had complained to the state association, saying that something didn't smell right. But he was cleared to play because of the birth certificate that he has from Haiti.
SIEGEL: You mean other coaches said that sophomore guard looks a little old to me?
Mr. CRAKER: Looks a little old and just, you know, it was a real convenient story. A homeless kid shows up, really good player, and there was questions there.
SIEGEL: Homeless kid who was taken in by the coach, I read.
Mr. CRAKER: Yes. He was taken in by the coach after living with what he claims was his half-brother, which was really a teammate from the Florida high school.
SIEGEL: Hmm. How did the story of Jerry Joseph, Guerdwich Montimere, how did it start to unravel?
Mr. CRAKER: He went to an AAU basketball tournament in Arkansas and happened to run into his old AAU coaches from Florida, and they immediately recognized him and tried to confront him, and he denied everything. So, they started doing some digging. An anonymous tipped us and anonymously tipped the high school.
SIEGEL: When you say started denying everything, you mean he denied I'm the same guy you knew back in Florida?
Mr. CRAKER: Yes. One of them went up and called him, hi, Guerdwich. And apparently Guerdwich looked shocked, but then immediately claimed he was Jerry Joseph and ran away.
SIEGEL: What's happened to him since his real identity has been disclosed?
Mr. CRAKER: He was arrested yesterday and was in jail overnight and then he was bailed out this morning. But nobody knows who bailed him out and we don't know where he is.
SIEGEL: What's going to happen to the record for the team this past year, which - it was a winning record, wasn't it?
Mr. CRAKER: Yes, it was a winning record. It was the first time they'd made the playoffs in three seasons. From what we understand, they will have to forfeit the entire season.
SIEGEL: Now, this story does make one wonder about 16-year-olds and 22-year-olds, among whom there can obviously be a great range of maturity, physical and otherwise. But wouldn't the high school teachers, or at least his ninth grade teacher, what, he was 21 in ninth grade, wouldn't they have noticed something unusually mature about this kid?
Mr. CRAKER: Well, that's what we thought. We just don't understand how nobody knew, but that's what everybody is swearing. I mean, last week when we didn't know for sure, I had coaches and teachers telling me that we were wrong, that the paper needs to stop pursuing this.
SIEGEL: He'd been through high school once before. Was he at least a successful student?
Mr. CRAKER: You know, he was. And he had told us that he had no school background, because he came from Haiti. But he was doing well enough that he was in advanced placement classes, and he had a very good grade point average from what I understand.
SIEGEL: And did you get the impression that he was hoping to convert this deception into, say, a college education? Is that what this was about?
Mr. CRAKER: You know, I guess that's the million dollar question. I mean, I don't know if it was that or I don't know if it was that he had such a terrible home life growing up that he just wanted something stable, or, obviously, they love their high school sports out here in Odessa, Texas. Maybe he just wanted to be a star again.
SIEGEL: Well, Craig Craker, thanks a lot for talking with us about this remarkable story.
Mr. CRAKER: Well, I appreciate it. Thank you.
SIEGEL: Craig Craker, who is assistant sports editor of the Odessa American, on the story of 22-year-old Guerdwich Montimere, who played high school basketball this year in Texas as a 16-year-old sophomore. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.