www.nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/38903075/ns/sports-othersports/

Man, 21, posed as middle-schooler for football

‘This guy had us all fooled. I mean this guy acted just like a little kid’

Tampa Bay Online updated 10:20 a.m. ET, Sun., Aug 29, 2010

Steve Hegarty, borough County School District spokesman, said Threatts showed up alone and without the proper paperwork at Webb. Threatts told administrators he was homeless.

Hegarty said the Department of Child and Families was called in, while Threatts waited in the cafeteria where he was given a snack.

According to Hegarty, Webb Principal Marcos Murillo walked through the cafeteria at that point and saw Threatts. Hegarty said Murillo told him, "He looks too old to be in middle school."

Threatts was moved to the social worker's office, where Threatt's cell phone rang. Hegarty said one of the administrators in the room answered. The voice on the other end said she was Threatts' mother, which is when his true identity became known.

Later Tuesday, Threatts was arrested on trespassing charges at the school.

According to police records, Threatts said he was a runaway and used the alias, "Chad Jordan," the same name he used on a forged birth certificate to play for the Town N' Country Packers. Threatts remained in the Hillsborough County Jail on Saturday. In addition to the trespassing charge, he also is being held on charges of violating probation in a 2009 burglary case, records show.

McCloud, the Packers athletic director, said the team became suspicious of Threatts when opposing coaches recognized him.

When it was brought to McCloud's attention that Threatts was an impostor who played for an opposing youth football coach the previous year, McCloud called a meeting with Threatts.

"I brought him into this room with seven of our board members and coaches and said, 'Come on now, tell us the truth, who are you?' " McCloud said. "He looked me right in the eye and said, 'I swear I am who I say I am. I'm Chad Jordan.'

"This guy had us all fooled. I mean this guy acted just like a little kid. Everything about him was a little kid. He's a total scam artist."

Threatts is 5-foot-11, 160 pounds, which is 10 pounds under the 170 pounds to play varsity level (13 and 14-year-olds) in the TBYFL.

McCloud, who estimates he has more than 200 football players and cheerleaders within the Town N' Country Packers organization, said the volunteers who handled Threatts' paperwork couldn't remember which parent or guardian vouched for Threatts on the required forms. McCloud said Threatts' form was not notarized, which is the case with many of the Town N' Country Packer players.

"Our volunteers are overwhelmed," McCloud said.

Besides the forged birth certificate, McCloud said Threatts' elaborate story included his parents died and he had moved from Seattle with his brother. There also was a lengthy e-mail from an alleged scout at the high school recruiting service Rivals.com analyzing Chad Jordan.

McCloud said he believed Threatts also forged the e-mail. The e-mail, which circulated heavily among TBYFL coaches, said Chad Jordan was "a very special prospect" who "hasn't signed" but has "offers from USC (University of Southern California), Texas and Florida." The email included quotes and lengthy statistics.

When TBYFL president Scott Levinson learned about Threatts, Levinson said, "I was angry. My goal is to protect kids, to make sure they're all safe and taken care of.

"We're going to investigate this to the full extent."

Citrus Park Bills Athletic Director Mike Black said he hopes so, and not because Threatts scored two touchdowns in the Packers' 35-0 victory over the Bills.

"We need to do whatever it takes to make sure this type of thing doesn't happen again," said Black, who has been involved with the Bills more than eight years. "Believe me, I understand that some people are going to try and take advantage of the system, but we need to work to stop those people.

"(TBYFL) should not be about winning. It should be about trying to help kids learn and grow into better people by playing football."

Besides playing for the Packers this year, McCloud said he discovered Threatts played in another youth league last year and for the Seahawks in the TBYFL two years ago.

What will they ever think of next?


Aw crap...maybe I shouldn't have asked that

Gurl...this is really scary. The fact that people, in key positions, let him through before creeps me out. I can just imagine...the types of interaction he COULD have had with those kids, girls and boys. What a royal screw up!

This kind of thing screams to me that the "kid" in question may possibly be a pedophile or a xesual predator of some sort.  Personally, I take a hard line on this type of deception and say he should be dealt with harshly by the powers that be.

Not cool at all. 

I know...I was thinking similar....and if by chance he is not neither of those things....he has just given a ton of those perps a heyl of an idea!!! I mean how hard is it to forge a birth certificate or have some other buddy pedofiles vouch for you as your parents. This type of mess here only feeds my paranoia when it comes to my kids..ugh!

Yeah, yeah - he did a bad thing, I get it - but tell the truth.... honestly.....

Didn't you think at the back of your mind - whewWEEE!  Black SHO don't crack!!!!

Gurl....what was going through my mind was that this negro had the nerves to sit there and eat a dayum snack...all comfortable in his "getover"!!!  All I could visualize was his grown ass scrunched up in a little kiddy chair with graham cracker crumbs on his lap AND a dayum milk mustache ....he was happier than a lark...tapping his feet and shioot UNTIL they busted his big ass!  I know some of those 13-14 years old are probably bigger than him...but this was going through my mind anyway. Ninja...go get a dayum J.O.B.

I agree with both of you; however what really scares me that he never would have been caught had he not had the proper paperwork. I'm assuming that is proof of shots and transcripts and such.

WTH? I mean really are we as a society so dang blind to our children that without a papertrail we couldn't keep up with them? Now I am not a parent but I can tell you that my faith in these systems was already low and sinking.

Shoot...I had to go up to may daughters school (middle school) last year and pitch a helluva FIT because they had what was the equivalent of a MATCH.COM compatibity survey that student could purchase to fund the student newsletter. Found it in my daughters book bag when we were cleaning it out. They gave students a list of all the students (opposite sex at each grade level ) that they were compatible with based on their interest.  WTH??!!! was the mofo that had that brillant idea was thinking is beyond me.  Student already don't need a reason to hook up BUT dayum...now the school is giving them permission and in a round about way condoning it! I pitch a hybrid ghetto/professional FIT... I tell you. The administrators and a lot of the parents were just as upset as I when I brought it to their attention. Some did not even know it was happening. Some kids were already hooking up as a result. Even had the most compatible couple in the newsletter. WTF? 6-8 graders.  Parents....you have to pay attention!!! Needless to say...the newsletter will be funded a different way this year. 

Okay that is some hot nashy shyt!

I don't know who came up with the idea but the Principal had to codone it...I mean the recently deceased Principal