Man who posed as Texas student to be released

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Lubbock, Texas • A former Haitian star athlete is to be released after serving a prison sentence on charges arising from his posing as a teenage Odessa high school athlete.

Guerdwich Montimere pleaded guilty in 2011 to records tampering and sexual assault of a child. The 25-year-old is to be released Monday from the Goree Unit in Huntsville.

Montimere masqueraded as a teen to play basketball at Odessa Permian High School. The naturalized U.S. citizen was 21 and 22 when he played as 15-year-old Permian ninth-grader Jerry Joseph. The Panthers made the 2010 state playoffs but had to forfeit after his story unraveled.

Coaches from Florida raised suspicions at a postseason basketball tournament in Arkansas when they recognized Joseph as Montimere, a 2007 Florida high school graduate.