Guerdwich Montimere gets three years, admits he's Guerdwich Montimere

The saga of Guerdwich Montimere can now officially be called the saga of Guerdwich Montimere.

That name should ring a bell. Montimere is the 22 year old Florida native that moved to Texas and posed as then-15 year old Jerry Joseph all for a second chance at basketball glory.

His plan worked for a while, as he became a hoops star at the football-centric Permian High School in Odessa, TX, which is better known as that football team from Friday Night Lights (the book and the movie, not the TV show). But since he was a high school hoops star, Montimere/Joseph was picked up by a local AAU team. When he took a trip to a major AAU Tournament in Arkansas, he was recognized by coaches from a team in Florida. They blew his cover and, eventually, he was arrested.


Montimere was charged falsifying government documents, which he did in order to convince Permian administrators that he was young enough to be a high school underclassmen. But the more serious charges were a result of Joseph, Montimere's 15 year old persona, doing what 15 year old boys do -- sleep with 15 year old girls. Montimere was actually 22 at the time. That's called statutory rape.

This all happened last May.

On Wednesday, Montimere was sentenced. According his plea deal, he would get three years in prison -- a fairly light sentence that was only agreed upon due to the insistence of Montimere's high school girlfriend -- as long as he admitted in court that he wasn't Joseph, which he did. Montimere is also going to have to register as a sex offender, which may end up being more difficult to deal with than the his three year bid.

Remember, this comes just weeks after he allowed GQ to do a profile on him in which he claimed to truly be Joseph.

Hopefully, this is the last we will here of this story, at least until Montimere gets out of jail.
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Guerdwich Montimere back in the news

We spent far too many words on the Jerry Joseph/Guerdwich Montimere story last summer.

Long story short, 16 year old Jerry Joseph showed up out of the blue in Odessa, TX, in 2009, enrolled in high school, and became a basketball phenom in the region. The only problem? He appears to actually be Guerdwich Montimere, a former high school star from Florida that already finished his high school career. Making matters worse, he slept with his girlfriend in Odessa who was 15, which makes him a rapist since the girl wasn't of age to consent.

Yuck. Right?


Anyway, reading through those old posts, the first thought in everyone's head is almost assuredly going to be that this Montimere fella is scum. Assuming Joseph is, in fact, Montimere (the fingerprint match is pretty damning evidence), its easy to hate the guy that took advantage of an unsuspecting town and deceived the people that did everything in their power to help him.

But that's not the end of the story.

In the latest GQ, Michael Mooney profiled Montimere and, well, it doesn't exactly paint him in a different light, but it should show you that there is more to this than a simple long con. I almost feel bad for Montimere.

The bottom line is that there is one of two things going on here. Either Montimere truly believes that he is Joseph -- in which case the man is suffering from some sort of amnesia or dementia -- or he had such a traumatic and miserable experience as Montimere that he couldn't stand the thought of continuing to live his own life. Even if Montimere is nothing but a pathological liar and a con man, there's something to be said for how pathetic it is to try and recapture high school glory again.

Do I think about how different my athletic career could have been if I gave a damn for four years or if I put in the work and knew what I knew now? Absolutely. Would I ever consider trying to relive that high school experience in a different area? Hell no.

Throwing a wrench in the situation is just how good of a kid Joseph appeared to be. He won over a family, a school system, and an entire town with his personality and charm. The mother of his girlfriend -- the girl that is theoretically the victim of Joseph's statutory rape -- says that he is still welcomed in their home and that she has no qualms with the relationship, even if its with Montimer and not Joseph.

I feel bad for the people of Odessa, particularly those that were duped by Montimere.

But I feel worse for Montimere, himself.

Regardless of what actually happened, he deserves your pity.
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There Is Nothing Like a Good Off-Season Hoops Story: Guerdwich Montimere

The news-ticker in the college hoops world works 24/7 nine months out of the year. During the off-season, when the ticker moves just a bit slower, stories that would usually get pushed to the back-burner get over-examined. Even if the stories are from well beyond left field, every writer, analyst and blogger in the country is talking about it, because, well, there isn't much else to talk about.

While most of the discussion and debate this off-season has been surrounding conference expansion and anything involving possible NCAA violations, there have been a handful of wildly-entertaining news stories to over-examine and debate to keep us occupied until Marathon Madness.

Troy Machir, B.I.A.H's resident brainiac on the ridiculous and the unnecessary will be providing you with a breakdown of the most outlandish news stories of the off-season.

The first story we have for you may very well be the most interesting hoops-related story of the year. You might want to strap yourselves in, because it's about to get weird.

The Jerry Joseph/Guerdwich Montimere disastrophe

Hands-down the best-most-ridiculously-puzzling-slash-uncontrollably-intoxicating-news-story-of-the-summer.

Yea, that just happened.

This story takes the cake as best off-season story quite effortlessly.

This one is so ridiculous that it could have easily been made into four different episodes of Law & Order, and I'm talking all the Law & Orders: Original, SVU, Criminal Intent, Trial By Jury and Los Angeles. Yea, I bet you didn't know about Trial By Jury. You didn't miss anything special. It was terrible, which just so happens to be the perfect adjective to describe Guerdwich Montimere's decision-making skills.

Essentially, here's what happended: A 22-year-old Haitian man (Montimere) who played high school basketball in Florida (Dillard HS) about ten years ago posed as a 16-year-old high school star (Joseph) in Texas (Permian HS). He even had a former teammate (Caldwell) enroll him at school and sign an affidavit stating he was his half-brother. Turns out that Caldwell isn't his brother, therefore Joseph (allegedly a Haitian immigrant with no parents) is an illegal immigrant. But since Joseph (Montimere) isn't Joseph (Montimere), he's also busted for false identification, along with the illegal immigration and forging false court documents.

And to think, I thought the whole "Finkle is Einhorn, Einhorn is Finkle" thing was confusing.

On top of that, Joseph (Montimere) lived with his head coach and family while attending school.The coach and his family believed he was a 16-year-old orphan. In fact, Joseph Montimere was 22-years-old and even has a fraternal twin brother, Guerdwin Montimere, who is currently serving time in a Florida jail for burglary and mischief charges.

But we aren't even done with all the ridiculousness yet.

When Joseph was 15 (Montimere 21) he had sexual relations with a girl from Permian HS who was 16. The problem is that it wasn't 15-year-old Joseph, but 21-year-old Montimere. 21-year-olds are not allowed to sleep with 16-year-old girls. It's called statutory rape. So you can add that one to the laundry list of charges Montimere racked up.



This story is almost too mind-boggling to digest. So basically what we got was a guy (Montimere/Joseph) breaking about 4-5 different laws, each one more severe than the last, all just to get another shot at high school basketball. That's a pretty risky "reset button" he pushed.

This story is one part Anthony Avalos, one part Danny Almonte, one part Castor Semenya, and three parts ridiculous.

I am still having trouble undestanding how a functioning human being does something like this. But I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. According to this theory, Guerdwich Montimere must have been the most desperate human being on the planet.

Read this article and tell me if it doesn't make ur intestines unravle. (My favorite quote from this article: "He was a men amongst boys" ummm... hello he was a 22-year-old playing against 16-year-olds.) This kid grown-adult played everybody. He played his coach, he played his school, and he even played the reporter who wrote this tear-jerking piece.

There is nothing worse than a liar, and Montimere was trying to make an entire career life out of one big lie. I can't even get away with lying about eatting the last slice of my roommates pizza. Yet this kid grown-adult lied through his pores and got shelter, a family and a second chance at high school. I would kill for a second chance at high school. Actually wait, considering the context of this story, I probably shouldn't say that.

Guerdwich Montimere, if you are reading this: you make me sick.

But what really irks me is that I haven't even gotten to talk about how awesome the name "Guerdwich Montimere" is. After all, it's a pretty spectacular name. Who knows, in another life (his original one), he might have actually been able to make the vaunted "B.I.A.H All-Name-Team".

But is it awesome enough to commit a handful of crimes, including statutory rape?

Well I think you can be the judge of that.

If this isn't the most absurd hoops-related story you've seen this summer, then either we aren't doing our jobs, or you are lying, because it is.
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Guerdwich Montimere in the news again

Guerdwich Montimere probably regrets going back to high school.

You remember Guerdwich, right? The 22 year old Haitian man that lied about his age, returned to high school, and starred for the Permian High basketball team? He was arrested on Tuesday of last week for failure to identify himself to a peace officer, and then again on Thursday for altering a government document (he forged his birth certificate).

On Friday, Montimere was arrested for the third time in four days.

And this time it was a bit more serious.

A 16 year old girl told police that she had slept with Montimere when she believed he was 15 year old Jerry Joseph. The problem is that he wasn't 15 year old Jerry Joseph, he was 21 year old Guerdwich Montimere. 21 year olds are not allowed to sleep with 15 year old girls. Its what we like to call statutory rape.

In a statement from the Odessa police department, Montimere is accused of "intentionally and knowingly engaged in a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old juvenile and portrayed himself to be 15 years old when he was actually 21 years of age." The charge is a second degree felony, and carries with it a sentence of 2-20 years and a $10,000 fine.

All to relive the glory years.

For some reason, I don't think it was worth it.

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