Basketball: Permian coach Wright duped by impostor

Permian basketball coach Danny Wright sounded like a broken man Tuesday.

Wright was still in disbelief, hours after being informed by Ector County Independent School District officials that Panthers sophomore basketball player Jerry Joseph is actually a 22-year-old from Florida named Guerdwich Montimere.

Disbelief over being duped for two years.

Sadness for his own family after they embraced Montimere into their own household for the last year.

Shock that a 22-year-old would pose as a 16-year-old.

“I didn’t do anything for my other sons that I didn’t do for Jerry, Guerdwich I guess, whoever he is,” Wright said. “I feel bad for my kids that treated him like a family member and embraced him and loved him.”

Montimere was arrested Tuesday after Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents confirmed that Jerry Joseph was actually Montimere. Montimere admitted the deception after being confronted by officers Tuesday.

Montimere, who graduated from Dillard High in Fort Lauderdale, Fla,. in 2007, came to Odessa in Feb. 2009 to live with Jabari Caldwell — who claimed he was Joseph’s half-brother, though the pair aren’t related. Caldwell was attending UTPB on a basketball scholarship and had played at Dillard with Montimere.

Caldwell and Montimere enrolled Joseph into Nimitz Junior High as a 15-year-old freshman. During the summer of 2009, Caldwell moved back to Florida and Joseph said he wanted to stay in Odessa where he felt stable.

Coach Wright then let Joseph move in with him, something not out of the ordinary as Wright has had other students live with him through the years.

After a solid sophomore season for Permian, Permian officials and the Odessa American were contacted by AAU basketball coaches from Florida claiming Joseph was actually Montimere. Two weeks ago, Louis Vives, Cedric Smith and their South Florida Elite travel squad saw Montimere playing for the New Mexico Force under the name Jerry Joseph at the Real Deal in the Rock, a massive AAU tournament that drew teams from all over the nation in Little Rock, Ark.

After confronting Montimere — and him denying to know the Florida coaches — Vives contacted officials in Odessa.

“It’s been difficult, but I knew what I saw,” Vives told the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Sun Sentinel on Tuesday. “I knew I wasn’t going crazy, but everyone had me doubting myself. It’s been difficult, my wife even thought I was going crazy. I was losing sleep, questioning myself, was I right, was I wrong?

“I knew it was him. Everyone was questioning it. But I knew it was him.”

Caldwell, who has moved back to Florida, continues to deny all involvement.

“I had no idea,” Caldwell told the Sun Sentinel on Tuesday. “It’s completely catching me off guard. I had no part of the plan. It’s a shock to me. I’m pretty sure (Montimere) is going to say I had no idea. I swear I didn’t know.”

While Caldwell and former Dillard High and UTPB basketball player Alen Hardy continue to deny involvement, locally there are still plenty of questions.

“How bad is one’s life that you would disregard everything in your history to take on a whole new identity?” Wright said.

Montimere gained access to ECISD thanks to a birth certificate that said he was Jerry Joseph, a 15-year-old.

“He had a birth certificate,” ECISD executive director of athletics Todd Vesely said. “It was actually compared online with other Haitian birth certificates. We didn’t just accept any document to enroll him in school.”

Montimere is now being kept at the Ector County Detention Center.

A statement from ICE released to the Odessa American read: On May 11, 2010, ICE confirmed that Montimere assumed the identity of Joseph. ICE established this after comparing Joseph’s fingerprints taken at the time of his detention to a fingerprint on an application for an immigration benefit submitted by Montimere.

The statement continued: Prior to this discovery, Montimere claimed to be a juvenile and ICE officers followed ICE juvenile protocols. Such protocols place the burden of proof to confirm such claims on the agency, and ICE did its due diligence by continuing to try to identify Joseph. Further investigation, based on biometric information, revealed that the individual in ICE custody was a 22-year-old man.

Regardless, if Montimere is released, Wright has no intention of speaking to him.

“I wish him luck, but there is only so much room in my house,” Wright said. “My biggest thing is I stand on a principle when it comes to dealing with kids. You tell me the truth and I’ll do anything I can to assist you in anyway. When you lie to me, I can’t believe anything you have to say.

“When a relationship gets to that, there is no relationship.”

While Wright is feeling many emotions after a roller coaster of a week, he is still worried about everyone else who was affected.

“I feel bad for my seniors,” he said. “I feel bad for the kids in the program who loved him and embraced him. I feel bad for the Mission Church, which he was baptized in, they embraced him and loved him and would do anything for him.

“I got burnt. I hate that I did, but I will say this. I won’t stop advocating kids or loving kids or believing in kids.”

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Sports reporter Joel A. Erickson contributed to this report.

JERRY JOSEPH/GUERDWICH MONTIMERE TIMELINE

Odessa American and Sun Sun Sentinel reports

>> March 2007: Montimere a starter on Dillard’s basketball team that loses state Class 5A semifinal.

>> June 2007: Montimere graduates Dillard High School.

>> Fall 2007: Montimere moves to Freeport, Ill., where he had signed a scholarship to play basketball at Highland Community College and drops out.

>> February 2009: Montimere moves to Odessa under the name Jerry Joseph and enrolls in Nimitz Junior High as a 15-year-old, claiming he was living with his half-brother Jabari Caldwell. Caldwell, a Dillard graduate who is a friend of Montimere, was enrolled at UTPB on a basketball scholarship.

>> Summer 2009: Caldwell moves back to Florida. Montimere then moves in with Permian basketball coach Danny Wright and plays the season.

>> March 2, 2010: Named District 2-5A basketball Newcomer of the Year by district coaches.

>> April 16-18, 2010: Two Broward County AAU coaches spot Montimere at AAU Real Deal in the Rock tournament in Little Rock Arkansas.

>> April 27, 2010: Permian administrators receive anonymous emails claiming Joseph was Montimere.

>> April 30, 2010: ICE determined that Joseph and Montimere are not the same person.

>> May 11: Picked up by Ector County Sheriff’s Department and taken to the Ector County Detention Center.