Vincent Frank
This might be next level Danny Almonte stuff right here. For a while there, Rashun Sidney Richardson of Hillcrest High School in Texas was seen as a blue-chip basketball player.
It was just back in December when Richardson dropped 34 points and 15 boards in the Chris Bosh Shootout. A 6-foot-2 guard, college basketball programs had taken note.
It was all fake news.
See. Richardson was a 25-year-old man posing as a 17-year-old high school student.
“According to the district, 17-year-old Rashaun Richardson is really 25-year-old Sidney Bouvier Gilstrap-Portley, who graduated from North Mesquite in 2011,” the Dallas Morning News noted.
After his true age was found out, the district reported this to authorities. Sadly, this goes far beyond a scam artist trying to relive his high school days.
“Already the mother of a 14-year-old freshman girl has spoken to the media, including this newspaper, about how the 25-year-old man convinced her “that he was only 17 and that he didn’t see a problem with them dating,” the report continued.
That’s just all sorts of gross right there. And if there was indeed an inappropriate relationship between the 25-year-old and that teenager, the hope here is that he’s locked away with the key being tossed.
Apparently, the man in question enrolled in school as a Hurricane Harvey refugee. This means that he didn’t have to show official birth records. That’s the loophole he found in attempting to circumvent the system.
Here’s a local news report on the entire situation.
As much as we want to joke about this, children were impacted by this 25-year-old man’s criminal activity. It’s no laughing matter.
Portley was arrested Friday and is facing a charge of tampering with government records. The hope is that he’s prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
