195cm tall high school basketball star turns out to be 22 years old

At a sports-loving high school in Texas, which served as the inspiration for the Billy Bob Thornton film ' Friday Night Lights ,' it has been revealed that Jerry Joseph (16), a promising new player on the basketball team, is actually Guerdwich Montimere (22), an immigrant from Haiti, causing a stir.

Details are below. Confirmed: 16-year-old 'Jerry Joseph' is actually 22-year-old Guerdwich Montmiere

High school basketball player accused of being a 22-year-old posing as 16 | The Fabulous Forum | Los Angeles Times

Texas school Permian forfeits wins after player admits he's 22 - USATODAY.com

Guerdwich Montimere moved to Odessa , Texas, and enrolled in junior high school in February 2009, presenting his birth certificate as 'Jerry Joseph, Haitian, born January 1, 1994.' He later enrolled at Permian High School , where he excelled as a basketball player. Permian High School is a school with a strong athletic presence, and the classic sports nonfiction book ' Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream ,' which was later adapted into a film and a TV drama, covers the school's football team and the 'sports supremacy' that permeates the school and the entire town.

Jerry Joseph, who calls himself Jerry Joseph, enrolled at Permian High School and played for the school's varsity basketball team as a sophomore (10th grade, equivalent to a first-year high school student in Japan). In the 2009 season, he led the team to the regional playoffs for a spot in the state championships and won the Rookie of the Year award. In American high school sports, the varsity team is usually made up of juniors and seniors (11th and 12th graders), so Jerry Joseph was a promising newcomer who would carry the team into the future.

When he first arrived in Odessa, Jeryy Joseph stayed with a friend who lived in a nearby university dormitory. He later moved into the home of his high school basketball coach, Danny Wright, and earlier this year, the coach became Jeryy Joseph's official guardian. He was well-received not only by the team but by the entire school, and as a Haitian immigrant, he was even featured on local TV news after the Haiti earthquake . If he were really 16 years old and had a successful career in college or professional basketball, it would be a wonderful story...

Jerry Joseph is 195cm tall. Although he is tall for a 16-year-old, he has a baby face and behaves like a 16-year-old high school student, so no one suspects his true identity. He may have been quite a talented actor.

The identity of Jerry Joseph came into question when, at an amateur basketball tournament held last month in Little Rock , Arkansas, coaches Cedric Smith and Louis Vives, who were visiting from Florida, noticed that Jerry Joseph looked familiar and claimed that he was Guerdwich Montimere, a 2007 graduate of Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale , who must be 22 years old.

'When I saw him, I was shocked and the only thing that came to mind was, 'Why?' I called out to him to find out what was going on, and the look of shock on his face told me it was him,' Vives said, but Jerry Joseph denied being Guerdwich Montimer.

Later, immigration authorities and police became involved in the investigation, as Jerry Joseph was indeed an illegal immigrant if he was 16 years old. However, his fingerprints did not match the FBI database, and testimony emerged that 'Jerry is Guerdwich's half-brother.' At one point, it seemed that it would be concluded that Jerry was not Guerdwich, but that the Florida coaches were making a false accusation.

Upon hearing the news, Coach Smith reportedly told a local newspaper, 'I'd bet my salary that it's Guerdwich. I'm 100% confident. We've known Guerdwich since he was in seventh or eighth grade. We couldn't be mistaken. All his mannerisms were still there. We need to investigate further.'

Further investigations revealed that the fingerprints on Guerdwich Montimere's U.S. citizenship certificate matched those on Jerry Joseph, confirming that Jerry Joseph was indeed Guerdwich Montimer. When confronted with the evidence, Jerry Joseph admitted to being Guerdwich Montimer.

Because Guerdwich Montimere is 22 years old, which violates the 'under 19' rule in high school basketball, Permian High School will likely void all 16 of the games that Montimere won during the 2009 season as Jerry Joseph.

Permian High School coach Danny Wrigh, who considered Jerry Joseph like family, expressed his disappointment, saying, 'A lot of people are affected by this. He was a popular kid at school, and he was deceiving us and toying with our feelings.'

In the news footage below, you can see Jerry Joseph, aka Guerdwich Montimere, playing among high school students.
YouTube - Permian Student-Athlete Identified as Imposter

If convicted of identity fraud, Guerdwich Montimere faces up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $2,500. Montimere was a talented high school player in Florida who would have been competitive in college basketball, competing with his peers. It's unclear why he would return to high school.