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Teen hoops imposter pleads guilty, gets three years

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Mike Miller

Last year he was a 16-year-old high school basketball star named Jerry Joseph. This year he’ll go to prison as 23-year-old Guerdwich Montimer.

Also odd? He’s probably best known as Guerdwich Montimere.

That’s the legacy of a man who posed as a teenager all in the name of playing basketball.

Montimer – as he’s listed on official documents – pled guilty Wednesday to two sexual assault charges and three counts of tampering with government records. He was sentenced to three years in prison and won’t be eligible for parole in two years.

Prosecutor Bobby Bland says Montimer will have to register as a sex offender as well. From a release:

“In this case the victim specifically requested that we make this offer. Due to the high profile of this case, the victim has been through quite an ordeal, and requests the media respect her privacy. In this case justice was done, because any time Guerdwich Montimere goes anywhere else, he will have to register with the police and tell them ‘I am Guerdwich Montimere, I am in your city, and I am a convicted sex offender.’ He will never be able to do this again.”

When Montimer’s story first emerged, it seemed like bad fiction. Was he really a guy who once playing in Florida? Or was he really a Haitian orphan and hurricane refugee who was merely getting a chance to showcase athletic ability and possibly earn a college scholarship.

Guess not. Once it became clear he wasn’t actually a teenager, things got bad for him in a hurry. His name changes got the government’s attention and when a 15-year-old girl claimed she had sex with him, it only added to his troubles.

For more on the odd case of Guerdwich Montimer, try this GQ story. It makes everything (mostly) clear.

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.