Jerry Joseph was the star basketball player at Odessa Permian High School in 2009 and 2010. He usually led his team to victory, and in 2010 Jerry expected Jerry to receive a generous scholarship to college based on his basketball abilities.
But the reality was that Jerry Joseph was actually called Guerdwich Montimere and was not 15 but a mature man of 22.
He had long graduated from high school in Florida when he falsified information to enter Permian High School in Lubbock, Texas as a freshman.
Lived with the coach
He immediately showed talent in the basket and team coach Danny Wright was very impressed with the new team member. “Jerry” said he was from Haiti and was an orphan because his parents died there in an earthquake.
Danny then invited him to live with him and his family.
It took more than a year before Guerdwich was discovered when his former Florida coach saw him at a basketball tournament in Arkansas. He has already informed the school officials of the Permian school in Odessa. The school authorities reviewed his records again, and now with a more critical eye, and as a result the police were called.
“Jerry” – Guerdwich Montimere – was not, on the other hand, an orphan. He was actually born in Haiti but moved to the United States as a child and became an American citizen.
He had been very promising in basketball, but not a child prodigy, and it was clear that he was not expecting a scholarship to a good university.
Not only lies but also sex offenses
By nature, Guerdwich had gotten better with the ball over the years and simply decided to try again with the lucrative scholarship. By pretending to be seven years younger. And oddly enough, I got away with it for just as long.
But there was something else that some say drew Guerdwich to high school: young girls.
And it turned out that it wasn’t lies about age and name that authorities took most seriously.
It turned out that he had had sex with a 15-year-old girl at school, who believed Montimère was a year older than her, 16.
Under Texas sex offender law, Guerdwich faced up to 20 years in prison.
But he did surprisingly well and Guerdwich Montimere was sentenced to just three years and released in 2013.
Coach Danny is still with Jerry!
Many supporters
The verdict was mixed with Lubbock residents, but the town is home to more than 260,000 people.
The prosecutor insisted that justice had been done. Some thought he deserved a much longer sentence, but a remarkable number of people stood by Montimère, the tall “teenager” who many refused to call anything but “Jerry”.
One of his teachers at the Permian school, Liz Faught, said in an interview that “Jerry” was not a criminal, he only tried to improve his life. “I don’t have a single bad word to say about this boy.”
Basketball coach Danny Wright, who invited Guerdwich to live with him, backed him up like a rock and also adamantly refused to call him anything but Jerry. “I believe with all my heart that he thinks he is Jerry Joseph.” His wife still considers Jerry her son and says they will until the day they die. She remembers how he cried like a baby when he received Christmas presents and a cake was baked for him on his birthday.
“That Guerdwich boy just needed love,” she claimed in interviews.
Montimère’s former coach said he was sane and belonged to a proper institution, not prison. And a close childhood friend said something had gone terribly wrong mentally for Guerdwich over the years.
Another former teacher said his high school basketball years were his happiest. “He was looking for what he loved the most, being the hero on the court, the basketball star.”
The twin brother
Guerdwich had a twin brother, Guerdouin, and no one would have thought of the relationship between them. Unlike his brother, Guerdouin was small and sociable, and Guerdwich believed, and probably rightly so, that his brother was their mother’s favourite. He did well academically, was polite and orderly, and excelled in sports, but his mother never praised him or attended a single sporting event where he competed.
His mother later said in an interview that her two sons had used drugs which did not change Guerdouin’s behavior, only his older twin brother. Guerdwich had started hearing voices and she was sure he had a mental problem. She didn’t know which came first, mental issues or drugs, but he had, among other things, broken furniture in the house and tried to assault her brother. A behavior that had nothing to do with the boy that people were used to, according to his mother.
The perfect student
But Florida high school teachers and classmates had another story to tell.
Teachers said Guerdwich lit up the classrooms with her presence. He would have been extremely polite and prudish, never even swearing and with perfect self-control. His classmates described him as funny and entertaining, and his coach described Guerdwich as completely trustworthy.
But Guerdwich had other, darker sides. Especially in matches where he was yelling at players and threatening referees.
People still have countless questions about Guerdwich Montimère.
Who was Guerdwich Montimere?
Did he suffer from mental disorders from childhood? Why did the twins’ mother make such a deal between them and how did it affect him that his mother only called her brother to wish him a happy birthday, but never him?
Was he looking for the love and attention he didn’t have at home? Why didn’t he trust anyone?
Was he so stuck in a dream of a future in basketball that he really believed he would find the lie? Or was he looking for young girls?
There are numerous accounts of his behavior in the years leading up to his discovery, but none involve inappropriate behavior towards girls.
It is impossible to know what happened to Guerdwich Montimere after his release from prison.
The latest post on his Facebook page is that he graduated from Odessa Permian High School in 2014.
Which is clearly a lie.
